Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
The European Parliament yesterday ratified a committee report from February on Iceland’s EU accession talks. The report and parliamentary debate were generally positive on Iceland; although there is concern about the discussion surrounding the EU in the country.
The report authors write that the discussion about whether Iceland should take up the Canadian dollar or the euro underlines the need for informed discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of European Union membership.
Stefan Füle, the EU expansion commissioner, said he is happy with the way negotiations with Iceland are proceeding — although very difficult issues remain to be tackled. Those issues include fisheries, which will be discussed later this year, RÚV reports.
The report’s main author, MEP, Christian Dan Preda, said he totally agrees with Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir’s assessment that Iceland’s two main options are to either join the EU and take the euro as its currency, or to give up sovereignty by unilaterally taking another currency and the monetary policy that comes with it.
British Conservative MEP Charles Tannock said in parliament that he thinks Iceland could be a “model EU state” and that Icelandic membership might hopefully persuade Norway to apply.
The report notes that the ongoing “mackerel war” is the biggest block to Icelandic membership and that there are no other political, economic or legislative barriers to membership.
The European Parliament ratified the progress report with 596 votes against 52.
Tags: Accession, Euro, Europe, European Union, Mbl, Negotiations
Posted in EU, Iceland, Politics, featured, progress | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Slightly more people in Iceland were happy to see their former prime minister go on trial for negligence over the banking crash than were unhappy, new survey results reveal.
Participants were asked whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied at parliament’s vote to throw out a resolution by Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson to cancel the Landsdómur trial before it began. The results of the Pulse of the Nation poll by Gallup suggest that 43 percent of people were satisfied with the vote which effectively allowed the trial proceed and 41 percent were dissatisfied. Nearly 16 percent of respondents said their feelings were neutral.
The near even split in opinion belies an increasingly loud backlash against the trial led primarily by Independence Party supporters, saying it is nothing more than a political witch hunt by the now-powerful-left against the former leader of the right. Although the case is not nearly over yet, many media commentators already feel Geir H. Haarde is unlikely to be found guilty. But supporters of the trial argue the process itself is cathartic for the nation and that a lot of new evidence and testimony have come to light as a result.
According to RÚV, those with higher levels of education were more likely to be happy with the Alþingi vote not to cancel the trial. The opinion of respondents also differed, unsurprisingly, along party lines; with Independence Party voters the least satisfied with Alþingi’s decision and Left Green Movement supporters the most satisfied.
Tags: Geir Haarde, Mbl
Posted in Iceland, PM, Politics, Society, court, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Danish police used batons and pepper spray to break up an anti-fascist protest outside the meeting of a centrist party youth movement which had invited a holocaust denier as guest speaker.
There was a confrontation between officers and around 100 activist when Venstres Ungdom (VU), the country’s largest opposition party, invited Daniel Carlsen to speak at its headquarters in Copenhagen.
Protesters tried to block Carlsen’s entry to the building but were beaten back by police with batons and pepper spray. Reports suggest that at least two activists and one police officer were injured in the scuffle.
“We showed that there are many who believe that it’s fundamentally wrong that Venstres Ungdom validates Nazis by inviting them to meetings,” one demonstrator, Steffen Sørensen, told left-wing news portal Modkraft.
Although Venstre translates as “the Left” in English, the party has taken a swing to the right under current leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Although in opposition, it is nevertheless Denmark’s biggest single political party, and is relatively centrist; not of the far-right.
Daniel Carlsen has expressed sympathy for Adolf Hitler and argues that the commonly-accepted version of WWII history is communist propaganda. The 21-year-old is the leader of Danskernes Parti, a far-right organisation.
Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark, Hitler, Holocaust, Mbl
Posted in Iceland, Politics, fascist, featured, venstre | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Witness testimony in the Landsdómur court case against the former Icelandic PM came to an end yesterday. 40 witnesses have been called throughout the case.
The final witness yesterday was current commerce, trade, fisheries and agriculture minister, and leader of the Left Green Movement, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. He was in opposition when Geir H. Haarde was Prime Minister during the banking crash. Steingrímur reiterated to the court what he has said publicly since the crash: that he saw a danger of a banking crisis in Iceland several years before it happened, but that his warnings fell upon deaf ears.
Árni M. Mathiesen, who was Geir Haarde’s finance minister, told the court that financial and banking matters were regularly discussed at cabinet meetings. His comments directly aimed at the charge against Geir that he neglected to discuss important matters with other ministers. He said that it was the opinion of the entire cabinet before the crash that the size of the banks needed to be reduced, and that he and Geir had discussed the matter with bank executives.
Árni said he does not feel the charges of negligence against Geir hold water and that he sees no way the court will be able to pin guilt upon him — adding that government action against the banks would have been needed all the way back in 2003 in order to prevent their demise. Árni’s testimony was similar in content to that of other ministers within Geir’s cabinet.
Steingrímur J. Sigfússon said that he had seen the crash coming since 2005 but government, the media and public institutions were not ready to listen. Asked in court if there was anything Geir or his government could have done in 2008 to prevent the crash, he said it is now hard to tell.
Steingrímur was the last witness of the trial, but following him Geir Haarde was called back to the stand to explain and clarify certain things. He told the court that there had, in fact, been no shortage of talks and plans for possible courses of action. It was, on the other hand, simply not possible to do all that needed to be done.
The court will reconvene on Thursdayat 13.00 to hear the Alþingi prosecutor’s final summing up.
Tags: Mbl
Posted in Haarde, Iceland, Politics, Society, arni m mathiesen, featured, landsdómur, steingrimur j. sigfusson | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
The Icelandic parliament late last night changed the law on currency exchange restrictions to close a loophole which had been discovered. Lawmakers were careful to keep their intentions secret until after the markets closed yesterday afternoon.
The bill was approved with 25 votes against 12 and three MPs did not vote. 23 MPs were presumably therefore not present at the late night session.
Vísir.is reports that the initial bill presented was deemed by parliamentarians to be too harsh and changes were made to it after its second reading to allow cash deposits held in foreign currencies and owned by foreign investment firms or the Central Bank of Iceland to be exempt from the tightened regulations. Such deposits are defined at the level they stood at at end of day on 12th March.
Alþingi MPs were surprised to be called to unscheduled parliamentary party meetings to discuss the secret bill they had not been told about, as soon as the currency markets closed at 16.00.
It is assumed the goal of the act is to stem the ongoing recent decline in the value of the Icelandic króna. The closing of the loophole in the exchange controls comes at an interesting time, when officials have already begun the slow process of removing the restrictions altogether.
Tags: Althingi, Currency, Krona, Mbl
Posted in Business, Iceland, Politics, Society, bill, controls, exchange, featured, forex | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
Yesterday was the sixth and penultimate day of witness testimony at the court case against former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde. Six people testified at the Cuture House in Reykjavík and one testified by telephone from Canada. Today is the final day of witnesses.
The first witness was former foreign minister and head of the Social Democrats, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir; but the day overall belonged to the bankers. Ingibjörg was followed on the stand by Sigurður Einarsson, former chairman of the board at Kaupþing; former Glitnir director, Lárus Welding; joint former directors of Landsbanki, Halldór J. Kristjánsson and Sigurjón B. Árnason; former chairman of the board at Landsbanki, Björgólfur Guðmundsson; and Stefán Svavarsson, Landsbanki’s former chief auditor.
Landsbanki representatives told the court that they had stopped discussing moving Icesave funds to a subsidiary in the United Kingdom because of political wrangling over the issue in London. Once that decision had been made, the bank’s liquidity position became largely irrelevant. Landsbanki and the level of funding in the Icelandic depositors’ insurance fund were discussed in the British parliament in summer 2008.
In her testimony, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir said that she found it “completely obvious” that if one bank fell, the others would follow. She said the point was discussed within the Social Democrats as early as March 2008.
She also told the court that part of her party colleague Össur Skarphéðinsson’s testimony last week was not true. She asserted that she never told him to avoid telling the commerce minister about the emergency meeting at the Central Bank of Iceland; adding that anyone who knows her personally knows that the phrase “keep it under wraps” (in English) is not something she would generally say. She said she would never be as devious as to use a major crisis to score points against a fellow minister.
In a further rebuttal she said former governor of the Central Bank Davíð Oddsson’s claim that she advised providing the banks with a EUR 40 billion state-backed loan to save them was not true; asking how she could have made such a recommendation from the New York hospital operating theatre she was in at the time. She said the recommendation must have come from her stand-in as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Össur Skarphéðinsson.
Among the points made by Björgólfur Guðmundsson were that, contrary to popular belief, Icesave did not amass huge deposits in the UK solely because of its market beating interest rates; but also because the accounts were good, the service was good and people recommended them to others and were satisfied customers. He added that he did not see much constructive the Icelandic government could have done to push the issue of moving Icesave to a British subsidiary.
This article is compiled from reports by RÚV.
(Homepage photo: VisitReykjavik.is)
Tags: Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, Geir Haarde, Mbl, United Kingdom
Posted in Business, Iceland, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Politics, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
Gylfi Magnússon
11 witnesses gave testimony to the Landsdómur trial of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde yesterday – day five. They included the current Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Highlights from the day’s testimony include:
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir saying that laws should have been put in place forcing the FME financial regulator to break its confidentiality code and personally let the Prime Minister know of any potentially serious situations arising. She said that Geir Haarde was not in a position to do much to prevent the bank’s from collapsing and that the auditing companies had too much power. She described as ‘reprehensible’ how positively the banks’ positions were described in Central Bank of Iceland reports in the lead up to the crash – adding that she did not remember ministers ever receiving information on an impending bank crash from then-Central Bank of Iceland governor Davíð Oddsson before he addressed the cabinet at a panicked meeting on 30th September 2008. She said that meeting came as a shock and that Davíð practically recommended locking the country down. He recommended implementing a national unity government and was visibly shaken. This was not surprising, given the seriousness of the message he was relaying, Jóhanna said. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is now PM but was previously minister for social affairs in Geir’s government from 2007 to 2009.
The present Minister for Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarðhéðinsson, was industry minister in Geir’s government. He told the Landsdómur yesterday that on the weekend it was decided that the government would take over three-quarters of Glitnir Bank, there was no mention at all of any danger the action could cause other banks to fail. He told the court he had asked about the possibility at that weekend’s meeting at the Central Bank and was told that one of Landsbanki’s chief executives, Sigurjón Þ. Árnason, had said at a meeting the previous day that action to take over Glitnir would not adversely affect the other banks. Össur said that he was not personally convinced at the time that Sigurjón was telling the truth.
Össur also told the court of the reason he was at the Central Bank meeting at all. He said that his then-party leader and foreign minister Ingibjörg Solrún Gísladóttir had called him while he was at the gym and told him to get to the Central Bank right away because Glitnir was in collapse. When he expressed doubt that he was the right man for the meeting and suggested she send commerce minister Björgvin G. Sigurðsson instead, Ingibjörg apparently replied that he would have Björgvin’s personal assistant as an expert counsel but that he was not to tell Björgvin himself because the issue needed to be kept quiet for the time being. He said that the cabinet meeting on 3rd October was the first time the banking crisis had been formally discussed (although ministers had talked extensively about it among themselves) and that commerce minister Björgvin G. Sigurðsson vented his frustration and criticism at the meeting.
Asked if he remembered the government ever pressuring the banks to move their headquarters overseas, as has been widely discussed in court this week, Össur said that he did not; and added that Left Green MP (and present day Minister for the Interior) Ögmundur Jónasson had practically been slaughtered for suggesting such a thing in 2007.
Another key witness on Friday was Gylfi Magnússon, University of Iceland economist. Gylfi was drafted in to the minority government from February 2009, after Geir Haarde resigned, as an un-elected expert commerce and trade minister. He told the court that the Central Bank of Iceland effectively went bankrupt in October 2008 when its board decided to loan Kaupþing Bank EUR 500 million in an effort to save the latter. He said that although the Central Bank said at the time that the loan represented only a fifth of its foreign capital reserves, in reality most of that money was not readily accessible. The decision to loan money to Kaupþing in the hope it would survive the crisis was ill-advised, Gylfi said. He said it was the wrong decision both because it decimated the Central Bank’s currency reserves and because it was throwing money into a bank which there was really no hope of saving.
Although the Central Bank had EUR 2.5 billion in foreign capital on paper, in reality it had much less readily available. If it really had 2.5 billion euros available then there would have been no need for the currency exchange restrictions and the IMF loan, Gylfi said. Currency reserves were not nearly big enough, he concluded.
Information based on live coverage from the trial by RÚV.
Tags: Geir Haarde, Mbl, Testimony
Posted in Business, General, Iceland, Politics, Society, court, evidence, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
A council member for the right-wing Finns Party, who wrote on Facebook that a man suspected of shooting two men from immigrant backgrounds should be given a medal, has been expelled from the party.
Tommi Rautio, a member of Köyliö municipal council, was struck off at a board meeting last Saturday after posting that the Oulu gunman should be rewarded as, “there is already a war going on and in every war decorations are handed out”.
Speaking to YLE, Finns Party Satakunta district chairman Seppo Toriseva confirmed that Rautio can only now serve as an independent on the Köyliö municipal council. He added that another two party members were also given warnings for posting offensive comments about the Roma minority on their Facebook profiles.
“Expulsion will come if these postings continue. It doesn’t matter if even more people leave [the party],” Toriseva told YLE.
A 24-year-old gunman killed himself after shooting dead a Moroccan-born pizzeria employee and injuring another man in Oulu on February 18. The police have said there is no evidence that the attack was racially motivated.
Tags: Facebook, Finland, Finns, Mbl, Technology
Posted in Iceland, Politics, Society, crime, featured, murder, shooting, true finns | No Comments »
Friday, March 9th, 2012
The financial campaigning group InDefence is unhappy that only Icelandic politicians, civil servants and bankers are being called as witnesses to the trial of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde. They want to see Alistair Darling called to testify.
There is a desperate need for foreign perspectives who could fill in crucial details in the case against Geir, and his defence at the Landsdómur court, it is claimed.
InDefence has therefore officially called on the prosecutor in the case to call the following as witnesses to the court:
1. Alistair Darling, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK
2. Hector Sants, President of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK
3. Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England
4. Timothy Geithner, former governor of the Federal Reserve in the USA
InDefence is still calling for answers as to the reasons behind Britain’s use of anti-terrorism legislation against Iceland. It would also be interesting, the group says, to find out how Alistair Darling felt after his meeting in London with a rather large Icelandic delegation, including the then-commerce minister, in September 2008; which is mentioned in his book “Back from the Brink”.
The InDefence group also complained that the general public are not able to follow the case through broadcast media and that the public do not have full and direct access to information and transcripts of testimony of protagonists and witnesses in the court room.
InDefence calls on the Landsdómur to fix the ‘problems’ without delay, RÚV reported.
Tags: Alistair Darling, Mbl, Mervyn King, United Kingdom, United States
Posted in Business, General, Haarde, Iceland, Indefence, Politics, featured, hector sants, landsdómur, timothy gartner | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
A second former governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, Ingimundur Friðriksson, took the witness stand this morning at the Culture House in Reykjavík – where the trial of former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde is taking place.
Alþingi prosecutor Sigríður Friðjónsdóttir started the questioning by asking him whether he had been aware of the danger one or more banks would collapse in 2008, and how he came to be aware of that. Ingimundur answered that the danger was first and foremost apparent because of restricted access to loans.
RÚV reports that there are many fewer spectators in the public gallery today than there were yesterday afternoon, when Davíð Oddsson gave his three-and-a-half hour testimony. Geir Haarde is in attendance today and is sitting with his defence, Andri Árnason.
Ingimundur went on in his answers to echo the sentiments of other witnesses called since Monday, including Geir Haarde, that affirmative actions taken in 2008 to reduce the size of the banks would have led to their collapse.
Ingimundur told the court that the authorities were interested in making the banks smaller, but pushing them up against the wall would have made things difficult and forced them to fail.
He added that he is not sure what level of manoeuvring room the authorities had within law to force such changes on the private banks. The banks’ own room for manoeuvre was also highly restricted by 2008.
Ingimundur said he believes Geir Haarde, then-Prime Minister, wanted to make the banks smaller, just like others in power. It was, on the other hand, not easy for the banks to sell assets at the time.
Ingimundur said it was also the will of the Central Bank of Iceland that the banks reduce in size, but it was not in the Central Bank’s power to force them. Neither could it force them to move their headquarters overseas. Banks do not move their headquarters to other countries on a whim and such moves need to be done in co-operation with the receiving country’s authorities. The process is slow and expensive, the former Central Bank governor told the court.
(Homepage photo of Culture House: www.VisitReykjavik.is)
Tags: Geir Haarde, Mbl
Posted in Business, Iceland, Politics, court, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
“The red line through all that year was that bankers feared that one little article in a British paper could have caused a bank to fall,” former Icelandic commerce minister Björgvin G. Sigurðsson told the Landsdómur court case against Geir H. Haarde this morning.
At the trial Björgvin answered questions from Andri Árnason, former Prime Minister Geir Haarde’s defence lawyer, about how much secrecy surrounded the work of the joint committee on financial stability. Björgvin said that there was as much confidentiality as it was possible to have; because there were clear signs of impending financial instability in the air, DV reported.
Björgvin had also said that a so-called fire sale of assets would have been a death blow to the banks and that all actions by the authorities, even conspicuous ones whereby the government actively helped reduce the size of the banks, would have led to their collapse.
Björgvin told the Alþingi prosecutor that he was on high alert at the time, and that several courses of action had been prepared. Asked what plans were in place to deal with the fall of the banks, he said that by far the biggest one was the implementation of the emergency laws which Alþingi imposed.
Answering widespread allegations that he was deliberately kept in the dark by Geir and Central Bank governor Davíð Oddsson, Björgin said he was not – and that he received just as much crucial information as any other minister.
Tags: Geir Haarde, Mbl, United Kingdom
Posted in Iceland, Politics, bjorgvin g. sigurdsson, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
Questioning of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde in the court case against him has come to an end. The court reconvened at 10.00 this morning, and testimony will be taken from several other key persons today.
mbl.is reports that this morning former minister of trade, Björgvin G. Sigurðsson, will take to the witness box. He will be followed by Arnór Sighvatsson, who was a member of the financial stability joint committee before the crash.
This afternoon testimony will be taken from Davíð Oddsson, the former Central Bank of Iceland governor. Before working at the central bank, Davíð was Prime Minister and leader or the Independence Party – followed in the roles by Geir Haarde.
Andri Árnason, Geir’s defence solicitor, says that it is quite likely that the case will become disorganised with the long string of witnesses being called; but that the main part of the case will still probably still conclude within two weeks as planned.
Geir was questioned before the Landsdómur court for around eight hours yesterday.
RÚV reports that Geir is being tried on four counts. Firstly for not ensuring that the recommendations and emphases of the financial stability governmental joint committee were systematically implemented and achieved results. Secondly for not having taken the initiative to make the State push for the banking system to reduce in size. Thirdly for not having seen to it that Icesave accounts in the UK were moved over into a British-based subsidiary of Landsbanki. And fourthly for not having held ministerial meetings on important administrative matters, as laid down in the constitution.
The main thread running through Geir’s eight hours on the stand was that he generally did all he could from his positiong within government; but that he could not overstep his boundaries into the jurisdictions of the FME, the Central Bank and the private banks themselves.
Tags: David Oddsson, Geir Haarde, Mbl
Posted in Business, Iceland, Politics, Society, court, featured, landsdómur, trial | No Comments »
Monday, March 5th, 2012
The court case against Geir H. Haarde, the former Prime Minister of Iceland, has begun in Reykjavík this morning after a succession of challenges aiming to cancel the case before it started.
Geir is the first world leader to face criminal charges over the global financial crisis – and is specifically accused of negligence in ensuring correct safety procedures were in place that could have prevented the complete collapse of Iceland’s biggest banks in autumn 2008.
Geir and his supporters claim the trial is political scapegoating and that it is unfair to try just one politician for the failings of a whole government – and indeed all of parliament. Supporters of the trial argue, however, that people are angry over the collapse and are still searching for answers and accountability. Geir Haarde may be the only politician on trial, but some bankers have already been sentenced and other investigations are ongoing.
Geir is being tried by the Landsdómur – a special high court which only exists to try government ministers. This is the first time the court has ever conducted a trial; although it has always existed since the Republic was declared.
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described Geir Haarde’s behaviour dealing with the collapse of Icesave as “unacceptable” and “illegal” at the time. Brown was subsequently accused of hostile actions against Iceland which precipitated the fall of Kaupþing bank, which it was hoped at the time would survive. Brown said he saw no other options and acted in Britain’s best interests.
During the first morning of the trial Geir has taken to the witness stand, saying he welcomes the opportunity to talk publicly about the crash. He says that it is now obvious the banks were under-capitalised and that they covered this up in their reports — but said the government had no way of knowing this and saw no need to tear apart reports by independent international auditors. He said that it was clear the banks needed to reduce their risk exposure, but that it was not the government’s job to force them. He says he talked about the issue with the Central Bank of Iceland several times without anything being done about it.
Tags: Crash, Geir Haarde, Mbl, Prime Minister
Posted in Iceland, Politics, banking, crisis, featured, justice, landsdómur | No Comments »
Monday, March 5th, 2012
A three week Icelandic air space patrol mission by the German Luftwaffe begins today while discussion continues about a possible Nordic takeover.
Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson, says that air cover has been arranged for the country for the next two years. Iceland has no military of its own. There are serious discussions in progress about whether the Nordic countries should take over Iceland’s air defence from NATO.
The US Air Force last took responsibility for Icelandic air space in August and now the Germans have taken over.
There are around 150 German air force personnel taking part in the Icelandic operation and they have brought four F4 fighters with them; as well as some 40 shipping containers and a variety of motor vehicles. Exercises will take place this week around Akureyri and Egilsstaðir.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs told RÚV that the German patrols and exercises are standard in nature and that the Americans will come in the summer and be followed by the Portuguese air force later in the year. Regular air patrols have been organised for the next two years and will be similar in nature to patrols over the Baltic nations and form part of the wider NATO preparedness mission over European airspace.
Despite the patrol of Icelandic airspace having gone very well since the permanent American military presence ended in 2006, there are now discussions under way that could see big changes. The former Norwegian foreign minister, Thorvald Stoltenberg, three years ago floated the idea of the Nordic countries co-operatively taking over the defence of Icelandic airspace. The idea is being seriously discussed, but it all hinges on decisions made in Sweden and Finland, which are not NATO countries.
Össur says he is positive about the idea, which has been discussed many times at Nordic foreign ministers’ meetings — adding that he sees building support for the idea in Sweden and Finland. Despite this, the foreign ministers have never made a joint decision or statement on the matter to date, as it would be such a big step for all nations involved.
Tags: Airspace, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Mbl, Nato, Nordic, Norway, Scandinavia, Sweden
Posted in General, Iceland, International, Politics, defence, featured, military | No Comments »
Monday, March 5th, 2012
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the current President of Iceland, has declared that he will stand for a record fifth term in office in June’s election.
Ólafur’s decision was sent in a press release on Sunday and not declared at a press conference. The President’s press conference last Monday, when he declared his intention to think about his options and make up his mind by early this week, drew criticism in some quarters for being over-dramatic.
The statement says that he has changed his mind on the decision not to stand, which he announced in his televised New Year’s address. He did so after taking stock of the support and encouragement he has been shown and because there is growing uncertainty about how Iceland will be governed and the definition of the role of President in the constitution, there is upheaval in national affairs and the party political system, as well as attacks on Icelandic sovereignty.
“In light of all of this and following discussions with my wife and family I have decided to honour these requests and submit my candidacy to remain in the office of President of Iceland, if that is the will of the nation’s voters.”
The President’s statement also makes an unusual plea for understanding from the electorate if he decides to call an early election once stability has returned to the country (in the event that he is re-elected in June).
See the original signed statement (in Icelandic) here.
Tags: Democracy, Mbl, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson
Posted in Iceland, Politics, President, election, featured | No Comments »
Sunday, March 4th, 2012
Denmark is to investigate after the US confiscated a policeman’s DKK 137,000 (EUR 18,423) deposit for Cuban cigars bought from Germany.
According to the Berlingske newspaper, the United States took Funen Police Officer Torben Nødskou’s money as they felt the transaction fell foul of their trade embargo against Cuba, which was imposed in 1960 when private property owned by Americans was nationalised by Fidel Castro.
”I do not feel it is reasonable for the United States to act against European companies in a case like this in which we have a legal transfer of funds between two European companies,” Denmark’s foreign minister Villy Søvndal told Berlingske. He added that the EU is against the embargo and that he will investigate the matter further.
Nørskou sent the money to a Hamburg company via the local Totalbanken in Funen, but the funds never reached the intended recipients as they were intercepted en route by US authorities. The Justice Department then refused to give the money back to the policeman in January.
Tags: Cuba, Denmark, Germany, Mbl, Sanctions, United States
Posted in Business, Iceland, International, Politics, cigars, diplomacy, embargo, featured, usa | No Comments »
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
The first candidate for this June’s presidential election has put himself forward, and it is not the incumbent.
Ástþór Magnússon held a press conference at his home yesterday afternoon where he formally announced that he will stand for election as president. This is the third time he has stood in a presidential election.
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has promised to tell the nation whether or not he will stand for a record fifth term either late this week or early next week.
Ástþór’s statement is as follows:
I am told that there is a lot of talk about the presidential election at the nation’s kitchen tables, and about whether I will stand. Many people have been in touch with me following the sitting president’s ruminations on standing for election to Bessastaðir on Monday and encouraged me to put my name forward. I have decided to heed their wishes.
The nomination is also a challenge to the media, the current president and his supporters to respect the nation’s right to choose a president in an open and democratic process. Kristján Eldjárn, former president, said one time: “Personally I believe that 12 years is a reasonable and preferable time in this office and that it is an ample chunk of one’s working life. No one benefits from arriving at a point when they come to imagine themselves as indispensable.” Based on overseas precedents it was the recommendation of the constitutional council that the new constitution should limit the maximum time an individual can spend in the office of president to three terms.
The media are one of the most important instruments of modern democracy. The media steer the conversation and therefore bear great responsibility for the outcome of elections. Modern media do not group candidates by their fame or their family ties, but rather they provide voters with quick access to candidates so they can research them and their policies in an open, impartial and democratic manner in time for the election.
Though the current president has somewhat redeemed himself after having been a mouthpiece for the Outvasion Vikings for a decade, the nation still has full opportunity to choose itself a new, competent and tenacious president. I put myself forward now for the third time to energise Bessastaðir, stimulate democracy and support peace in the world.
Tags: Democracy, Mbl
Posted in Iceland, Politics, President, astthor magnusson, election, featured | No Comments »
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
The Canadian ambassador to Iceland says that the authorities in Ottawa are willing to start talks that could see the Canadian dollar become the national currency of Iceland – if that is the will of the Icelandic people.
The ambassador, Alan Bones, will give a short speech at tomorrow’s meeting of the Progressive Party which will discuss the unilateral adoption of another currency to replace the Icelandic króna. RÚV reports the ambassador as saying that his government is ready to discuss Iceland’s adoption of the dollar if the Icelandic government requests such talks.
He said that an eventual treaty would try to accommodate the best interests of both governments; adding that if Iceland adopted the Canadian dollar unilaterally its government would obviously have no say on monetary policy – making it in the country’s interest to negotiate a treaty beforehand.
There are many examples of countries unilaterally taking on the currency of other nations – although no country has chosen the Canadian dollar to date.
Alan Bones says it falls to the Icelanders to discuss the matter internally and decide if the benefits of a stable currency outweigh the negatives of losing control over monetary policy and losing the ability to deal with economic shocks, as in autumn 2008, by devaluing their currency.
There has been serious discussion in Iceland about ditching the króna since the crash and one of the key reasons for Iceland’s EU application is the possible eventual adoption of the euro. Others have been calling for the country to take up other currencies, and the Canadian dollar has been a popular choice. Still other voices maintain that the expense and instability of the króna are inconveniences worth enduring for having control over monetary policy and the ability to devalue.
Tags: Ambassador, Canada, Currency, Krona, Mbl
Posted in Business, Iceland, Politics, Society, dollar, featured, framsóknarflokkurinn, monet | No Comments »
Friday, March 2nd, 2012
The Icelandic parliament has voted in favour of continuing the criminal court case against former prime minister Geir H. Haarde for negligence in his handling of the banking crash.
More accurately, Alþingi MPs voted in favour of a resolution to dismiss a proposal from the leader of Geir’s Independence Party calling for the trial to be cancelled. The resolution which passed means that MPs will not now vote directly on whether to cancel the case or not. The trial will therefore continue, with the main proceedings set to start on Monday.
33 MPs voted in favour of the resolution, 27 voted against, two were absent and one member present did not vote.
Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson responded by telling Vísir.is, “I realised that there was a lot of conflict behind the scenes. Political parties have pulled rank over this resolution and MPs have been put under a lot of pressure,” he said on the dismissal of his proposal.
Bjarni claimed that many MPs who voted in favour of throwing out his proposal did so with the interest of the current government’s survival in mind, and not because they really want the trial to continue. “This is not a blow to me; far, far from it. This is a blow to the treatment of prosecutions in this country and to respect for the fundamentals of human rights,” Bjarni said.
Tags: Geir Haarde, Kreppa, Mbl, Prime Minister
Posted in Iceland, Politics, featured, trial | No Comments »