By Lili Bayer
BRUSSELS, March 18 (Reuters) - Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir told Reuters on Wednesday she is optimistic her country could join the European Union as early as 2028, adding she expects fisheries and agriculture to be the toughest points of negotiation.
The Icelandic government has proposed holding a referendum on August 29 on resuming EU membership negotiations, a process Reykjavik froze in 2013 when a more Eurosceptic government took power.
"We have seen that it's beneficial to have a voice at the table," Gunnarsdottir said in an interview in Brussels.
If Icelandic voters opt to restart talks, the minister said she expects fisheries to be the most difficult discussion. Iceland has disagreed with the EU in the past over fishing quotas that impact one of the main drivers of its economy.
The minister said any new talks should focus on the most difficult issues such as fisheries, agriculture and the labour market, right in the beginning.
"If we do that, then I'm pretty optimistic then we will be, before the end of the year 2028, a member of the European Union," she added.
The Nordic country, home to almost 400,000 people, is a founding member of NATO and already part of the European single market and Schengen open-border travel zone.
A rise in the cost of living and Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine have renewed Iceland’s interest in joining the bloc, polls have shown.
Repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland, located between Iceland and the United States, have also put a spotlight on possible EU membership.
"Iceland is there in the middle, a kind of link between those two continents," she said.
If voters back the resumption of talks, full membership would require a second referendum.
"Should you choose to pursue EU membership, Iceland would certainly be a frontrunner in this process,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
(Reporting by Lili BayerEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
