When Iceland’s banking system collapsed in October, even the most independent-minded islanders gazed across the North Atlantic to Europe for salvation. If only Iceland had been a member of the European Union and eurozone, the argument went, it would have escaped the crisis and humiliation.

Protesters and police clash in Reykjavik during January’s demonstrations over the country’s financial failures

Four months later, as crisis-hit European countries such as Poland and Hungary consider joining the eurozone as quickly as possible, Icelanders are no longer looking overseas so rapturously. The latest polls reveal less than 40 per cent now back an application to join the bloc, compared with a mid-crisis high of nearly 80 per cent.