The Faroe Islands will only consider EU membership if both Norway and Iceland join the bloc, says the prime minister of the small north Atlantic country.

On a two-day visit to Brussels Joannes Eidesgaard said that the Faroe Islands – an autonomous region under the sovereignty of the Danish Kingdom like Greenland – would not join the bloc for the same reason as back in 1973 when they refused to follow Denmark into EU membership.

“The reason back then was that we could not live with the Common Fisheries Policy because … if we lose our fish we have nothing left. It is the same reason today,” Mr Eidesgaard told EUobserver.

The Faroese economy depends strongly on its fishing industry which represents more than 95 percent of its exports and accounts for almost half of the GDP of the country with a population of 48,000.

“If Iceland and Norway join the EU, then I think the Faroe Islands might join as well,” Mr Eidesgaard said, adding that it would be worse for the islands if they were left isolated while their two biggest competitors were in the union. “But right now, there are no signs that they will become members of the EU,” he noted.

The prime minister also expressed his country’s interest in joining the European Free Trade Organisation (EFTA), consisting of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.