Image above: Icelanders up to their necks in hot water. And that's the good news - "geothermal". From (http://rvkgrapevine.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/iceland-full-of-natural-energy).
By Elaine Byrne 7 March 2010 in Irish Times -
(http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0308/1224265794258.html)
Saturday's Icesave referendum was resoundingly rejected by 93.2 per cent of Icelanders, with just 1.8 per cent casting their vote in favour of the current €3.9 billion repayment package.
Although severe weather conditions have prevented counting of the hundred or so ballots from Grímsey island, Iceland’s northernmost island on the Arctic Circle, the final turnout is projected to be 62.7 per cent.
President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, responsible for triggering the first-ever referendum in Iceland’s history, said yesterday that “the referendum was not about refusing to pay back the money; the referendum was about doing it on fair terms”.
Icelanders in fact voted on an obsolete referendum question, because better repayment terms have already been agreed in negotiations that are still continuing.
However, a deep public anger about compensating the UK and the Netherlands for depositor losses stemming from the collapse of the Landsbanki bank has given rise to a misunderstanding on the part of some voters that the referendum was about reneging on repayment of the Icesave debts.
Similar scenes to last year’s “kitchenware revolution” were replayed when hundreds gathered outside the Althing, the national parliament, on Saturday and banged pots and pans advocating a rejection of the referendum.
Reflecting hardening public opinion on negotiating any deal, protesters carried placards reading “Parliament of the Street is Better Than Parliament of Defeat” and “In Defence of Homes, Enough is Enough”.
The announcement of preliminary referendum results on the national broadcaster RUV late on Saturday night were met with fireworks in Reykjavik.
The scale of the No vote and the large turnout has surprised most commentators, especially given comments by prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir that she would not actually vote in the referendum, which she described as “meaningless”.
The minister of finance, Steingrimur Sigfusson, said yesterday that negotiations with the Dutch and UK governments would restart shortly. The government, he said, was working to secure the desperately needed $4.6 billion (€3.37 billion) IMF rescue package, currently on hold because of uncertainties surrounding the Icesave repayment.
Mr Sigfusson told The Irish Times that international interest in the Icesave issue was down to the issue of responsibility, and that Iceland was not “unique” in these “historic times”. “Obviously there is a moral aspect here as well and it is easy to understand that people are angry . . . a lot of public money is being used to bail out banks,” he said.
A founding member of the Left-Green Alliance movement, the 55- year-old was appointed as minister for finance just over a year ago when the centre-right government fell from office in the immediate aftermath of Iceland’s economic collapse.
“In the end we have to learn something from this expensive experience,” Mr Sigfusson said.
He also urged caution, suggesting that the Icelandic experience should not be “overexaggerated . . . this is not a phenomenon that can be voted out of the world. Icesave still exists.”
Describing himself as the “happiest man on Earth when this is finally over”, Mr Sigfusson said Iceland might need to have a debate on what type of parliamentary system it wished to have. He did not believe that it was practical that a president “can step in over and over again” to continuously put legislative decisions agreed by parliament to referendum.
On a popular political television show yesterday, there appeared to be a growing consensus about a national government comprised of all political parties.
Video above: Lynn Says Icelanders Should Tell U.K. to `Take A Hike'. From (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtNffFfWc) Iceland vote 98 to 99% to say NO! By Staff on 6 March 20120 at Iceland Review - (http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=358928) The election on the government's Icesave-law was held today in Iceland and the first results indicate that over 98% of valid votes say no to the law. About 5% of the ballots were invalid or blank. This result is a big blow to the government of Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir and Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. In TV interviews the duo tried to play down the significance of the vote, pointing out that turnout was lower than in election to Althingi, Iceland’s Parliament. The election on the governments Icesave law was held today and the first results indicate that over 98% of valid votes say no to the law. About 5% of the ballots were invalid or blank. This result is a big blow to the government of Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir and Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. In TV interviews the duo tried to play down the significance of the vote, pointing out that turnout was lower than in election to Althingi, Iceland’s Parliament. The leaders of the opposition were all delighted over the resounding no. Polls had indicated that the result might be over 80% no, but the almost unanimous verdict of the nation comes as a surprise. Bjarni Benediktsson, Chairman of the right wing Independence Party said that this outcome was the result of a relentless fight against the government’s agreement with the two governments. He said that as a result the government would have to present a clear plan to the Althingi on its goals. Benediktsson said that the vote was a question of whether Iceland should sholder the responsibility for the minimum insurance of 20.887 € per account, the full interest cost of the Dutch and the British and on top of that all risk if the defunct Landsbanki should pay less of the total loss than what is now expected. “One also worries about how the government leaders talk about what happens next, as if the fact that the UK and Holland no longer are going to profit from the interest charged is a great victory for us in the negotiations.” Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Chairman of the centrist Progressive Party said that now Althingi could concentrate on economic issues. The Icesave issue could wait, but if the UK and Holland were willing to solve the issue, then it would be OK to help them. Sigurdardóttir and Sigfússon both said that this would have no effect on the cooperation of the two parties, the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green. On TV it seem as if they had not fully grasped how completely one-sided the vote was. Neither had participated in the election and both seemed to believe that next week they would go back to business as usual. The Prime Minister said that not coming to an agreement on Icesave was costing the nation a lot of money and the time has come to calculate that cost. The vote was the first of its kind since 1944 when Iceland gained independence from Denmark. .
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