Almost a quarter of voters in Iceland have signed a petition against government plans to pay back the money lost by foreign savers when the online Icelandic bank Icesave collapsed.
The bill proposes to reimburse 3.5 billion euros to the primarily Dutch and British victims of the bankrupt Icesave scheme. The petition to President Olaf Ragnar Grimsson urges him to veto the bill and calls for a referendum on the issue.
Iceland's parliament approved the bill earlier this week to pay back the amount lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands who deposited funds in the high-interest internet arm of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki. But President Grimsson made it clear that he was unhappy about the proposed legislation and has yet to sign the bill.
Icelandic tax payers say they are being made to pay for the bank's mistakes, as compensation amounts to some 12,000 euros for each citizen.
Photo Icesave by Reinier (Flickr)
Icesave by Reinier (Flickr)
Email this Article
Printer-friendly version
Just keep repeating there is plenty more fish in the sea like the Ambassador explained, after a while the pain goes away completely and you feel no more animosity to anyone.
Just keep repeating there is plenty more fish in the sea like the Ambassador explained, after a while the pain goes away completely and you feel no more animosity to anyone.
Just keep repeating there is plenty more fish in the sea like the Ambassador explained, after a while the pain goes away completely and you feel no more animosity to anyone.
PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA!
I swapped letters with Sverrir Haukur Gunnlaugsson the Icelandic Ambassador last year. Question, simple one, is there a phrase we can use to get us through all this? His reply:
‘Icelanders are a hardy nation and we believe that “Time Heals All Wounds” is a useful saying regarding our current predicament.
We have a saying about fish and I goes like this “There are plenty of fish in the sea”. I believe that during these times, we can take to understanding this as there being plenty of opportunities around – we just have to go for them. And I believe that is a very good ‘leitmotiv” to repeat to get oneself through these turbulent times’.
So there you go, as the Icelandic people refuse to sanction repayments, don't worry, just remember there are plenty more fish in the sea
Colin Nugent (Mr.)
Besides the amounts involved, there are ethical and legal issues involved. The European directive stipulating depositors guaranties, a directive that Iceland incorporated into law as well as all EU states, concernes failure of individual banks. In Iceleland there was a systemic crash of all the banks, partly thanks to UK government that used anti terrorist law against Iceland.
Is justice served if I, my children and my grandchildren pay back British and Dutch depositors in a private bank, their investment plus interest?
We do want to stand by our obligations, but this is not fair and certenly not what European law stipulates us to pay. The Icesave deal was forced upon us by Holland and the UK with the help from IMF and the EU.
We are now paying the price to refinance the failed banks and the bankruptcie of our Central bank. This we must do to keep our society working. Burdens from the Icesave failure is simply too much on top of all else.
You definetly got this wrong, Icelandic parliament approved the bill to pay in August 2009 and it was siggned by the President, but the Uk and Dutch authorities did not accept the guard in the bill and forced the bill to be modified in such away that it puts the life and future of Iceland to a big risk. The petition is to ask the President to call for a referendum on the new bill.
Post new comment
Please be reminded all comments must be in English, short and to the point - guideline 250 words. Abusive and inappropriate comments will be removed.