So, it looks like we’re heading for a referendum on the Icesave issue, although no date has been set.
Since all political parties seem to agree that there WILL be a sovereign guarantee on Icesave, the referendum will focus on two options: Do we accept the agreement as-is, or do we reject it and try to get a better deal.
Within the last option there are loads of different variables, such as whether the Dutch and the British are even amenable to re-negotiation.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties, who were so vehemently in favour of a referendum when the Icesave vote took place in parliament on December 30th, have now done a complete turnaround and want to seek all possible ways to avoid the referendum. Which just goes to show the exact nature of their position on the Icesave deal – i.e. it was primarily a tool used to discredit the current government. Now that they’re faced with the harsh reality and potential gravity of the situation [Iceland's loans being cut off, austerity, poverty] they’re starting to whimper.
Far be it from me to, er, judge, but the word “juvenile” does spring to mind.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
There you have it in a nutshell:
Accept it as is or renegotiate, after a year of full negotiations.
Would you like your doctor to play juvenile as you lay ill?
Whilst the opposition are immunised from the kreppa, citizens face an end to the moratorium on home repossession at end February.
Politics aside – and I lost no money in Icesave etc – it disgusts me how the IP – just as the British conservatives were a decade ago – are playing with peoples lives, after they presided over the kreppa.
opposition parties…have now done a complete turnaround.
They would, wouldn’t they? After all, a week, is a long time in politics!
Looking forward to the noughties on the BBC tonight.
sylvia from viking wirral
Interesting article – Eva Joly’s take on Icesave:
http://www.nrc.nl/international/europe/article2453340.ece/White-collar_crime_fighter_Eva_Joly_takes_on_IceSave
Possibly this is just the usual party politics to destabilise govermento that exists in Iceland right now and perhaps get back in with fresh elections again, but where are they to get their pots and pans brigade from?.Iceland once again has popped back into the anglo-saxon media to many times for me to keep up with,however as to the referendum date 20th Feb seems to be it, read it somewhere forget where. Iceland is unique with the referendum,we never got a vote on wether to let our bankers go under,same for UK and US too big to fail, keep the taxpayers cash flowing to them and their bonuses. It is interesting that the debate and comments in media seem to go down the iceland versus UK/Dutch path with people dragging up the cod wars etc, where their are loud complaints about why should UK taxpayer subsidise Iceland when the UK taxpayer are bailing out their own banks.but hardly a demo is mounted against this.So this loan that was granted by UK/dutch to reimburse the depositers should not have happened as it turned it sovereign.Sort if Alda was a bank and I lost money with the bank of Alda then that is where it should stay and not involve innocent parties ie the rest of Iceland.But of course you have that regulation side of things and who failed there?. But the main underlying theme must be Alda’s family 3 whatever .why should they have to pay 36,000 euros for someone elses doings forget about nationality.But of course we pay here with NAMA. because our government has the wherewithall to mount such scheme whereas your banks were just too huge with foreign money in them for your government, that turned the whole thing into a international incident.
Of course you can’t accept it as it stands — or you’ll be ruined, just as everyone around the world is being ruined by the greedy transnational banksters who own most governments, lock, stock and barrel. Unlike the rest of us, you have a president who won’t betray your democracy and national sovereignty. This is your chance not only to save yourselves, but to be beacon for all the world,
Have you seen this yet, Alda? The guy obviously hasn’t read much about the specifics of your situation and overstates the impact of the referendum, but he’s widely read and respected among progressives who follow economic news in America: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/01/icelands-president-effectively-tells-uk.html?source=patrick.net
Oh, and …
Someone on another thread here referred readers to a piece by David McWilliams, writing in Ireland at http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/iceland-shows-importance-of-putting-people-before-banks-2000578.html, and to European law prof M. Elvira Mendez-Pinedo’s letter to the international media at large, which can be read at http://elvira.blog.is/blog/elvira/entry/1001480/.
I’d like to second those recommendations. Both are superb presentations of what’s really at stake.