Skip to main content

Home/ Geopolitics Weekly/ Group items tagged Iceland

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Argos Media

Icelandic caretaker government wins general election | World news | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...iceland-election-government

Iceland EU Johanna Sigurdardottir!

shared by Argos Media on 27 Apr 09 - Cached
  • Iceland stepped into terra incognito today, veering left for the first time to hand a parliamentary majority to social democrats, socialists and greens and humiliating the rightwingers who have dominated for generations.
  • Venting their fury at a government that presided over Iceland's transformation from one of the world's wealthiest countries into the biggest victim of the global financial meltdown, voters in an early election gave strongest support to the social democrats, who are pushing for Iceland to enter the European Union.With 30% of the vote for the 63-seat Althingi or parliament, the Social Democrats emerged as comfortable winners under Johanna Sigurdardottir, the 66-year-old lesbian caretaker prime minister. The Left-Greens, an alliance of old-style socialists and younger environmentalists never previously voted into power, got 21.5% of the vote.
  • The leftwing coalition is assured of a three-seat majority and will need to embark on an austerity drive, swingeing spending cuts, and probably tax rises for the rich to try to rescue an economy that came crashing down last October when the three main banks collapsed and the country teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Unemployment, inflation, and mortgage repayments are soaring as a result of the crash, which has saddled Iceland with levels of debt running to tens of thousands for each of the population of 320,000 and necessitating a 10bn-dollar bailout programme led by the International Monetary Fund.
  • The rightwing and anti-EU Independence party has been in power for 18 years and has dominated Icelandic politics for 70 years. Its vote fell to 23% - its lowest tally ever - taking 16 seats as opposed to 25 two years ago.
  • The result leaves the country run by a former air stewardess and a former lorry driver - Sigurdardottir and the Left-Greens' leader, Steingrimur Sigfusson, who is expected to be finance minister. Both have been heading an interim government since February.
  • Public bitterness at the sudden collapse of a quality of life that was among the highest in the world fuelled fears that voters would stay at home on Saturday in protest at the entire political system. "I don't care who's in charge, right or left. If things don't work out, we'll be back on the streets," said Hordur Torfason, a leader of the January protests that brought down the previous centre-right government. But turnout, at 85%, was higher than in 2007's election.
  • Sigurdardottir promptly claimed the poll triumph as a mandate for negotiating entry to the EU - a central campaign pledge. Brussels would welcome Iceland's application and the country could join quickly since it already applies about 75% of EU law. However, Sigurdardottir's junior coalition partner is anti-EU and coming up with a coherent joint policy on the issue will be a key test of the coalition.
  • For decades, Iceland has staunchly rebuffed talk of joining the EU, fearful of handing control of its vital fishing sector to the European Commission, which sets member states' catch quotas. But Brussels admitted last week that decades of fisheries policy had resulted in failure and pledged to devise a new system.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC News - Iceland repayment talks collapse - 1 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8537862.stm

Iceland EU UK Netherlands Icesave

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 26 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Talks on how Iceland will repay more than 3.8bn euros (£3.3bn) of debt it owes to the UK and the Netherlands have broken down without agreement.
  • The collapse of the Iceland-based Icesave online bank in October 2008 hit savers in both countries. The UK and Dutch governments are seeking repayments from Iceland after they compensated savers themselves.
  • Iceland plans to hold a referendum on the Icesave repayment on 6 March, but the government is hopeful it can reach a different deal ahead of that. Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Icelandic voters would reject the repayment plan. The dispute has delayed International Monetary Fund help for Iceland, which Reykjavik needs to shore up its stricken economy.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The dispute has also overshadowed Iceland's application to join the EU, which was submitted in July.
Pedro Gonçalves

France24 - Voters say 'no' to repaying Dutch and UK Icesave losses - 0 views

www.france24.com/...llapse-bill-icesave-referendum

Iceland Economy

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 08 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Iceland's socialist government was surveying the damage Sunday after a referendum rejected a deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands billions for losses in the collapse of the Icesave bank.    As expected, Icelanders overwhelmingly voted down the deal in Saturday's referendum, with some 93.6 percent of voters lined up on the "no" side after more than 50 percent of the votes had been counted.    Only 1.5 percent of voters had so far voted "yes" to the Icesave deal, said RUV public broadcaster which compiles all electoral statistics.
  • Icelanders were asked to vote on whether the country should honour an agreement to repay Britain and the Netherlands 3.9 billion euros (5.3 billion dollars) by 2024.    This would be to compensate them for money they paid to 340,000 of their citizens hit by the collapse of Icesave in 2008.    Some observers had warned that a "no" vote might result in the International Monetary Fund blocking the remaining half of a 2.1-billion dollar rescue package.    It could also hit European Union and euro currency membership talks, Iceland's credit rating and destabilise the leftwing government, which negotiated the agreement in the first place, they argued.
  • Grimsson said that while Icelanders were not against compensating Britain and the Netherlands, many considered that the repayment conditions, and especially the high 5.5-percent interest rate agreed upon, were exorbitant.    "The people of Iceland, farmers, fishermen, teachers, nurses, are by and large willing to repay to Britain and the Netherlands what is equal to over 20,000 euros per depositor," Grimsson said.    "But they are not ready to pay a very high interest rate so that the British and Dutch governments would make a huge profit off this whole exercise."
1 - 6 of 6
Showing 20▼ items per page