As Iceland's parliament reconvenes three weeks early after its Christmas break, voices in the Netherlands are wondering whether we aren't pushing Iceland too hard.
Should Iceland be forced to repay the 3.8 billion loan it was given to help out Dutch and British depositors who lost their savings when the country's banks collapsed?
Writing on the discussion pages of daily NRC Handelsblad, members of the Dutch public are divided over the issue.
Some share the view that the Icelandic people are not to blame for problems caused by their bankers. "Suppose a private bank in the Netherlands had failed, annihilating the saving of, say, British and Icelandic depositors. Would the Dutch taxpayers be willing to foot the bill? No way!"
Others target Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos, who "made the Dutch taxpayers help repay the money lost by a load of miserly idiots who put their money on a dubious Icelandic account to gain a few percent extra interest. They knew there were risks."
Another contributor writes, "It is unreasonable to saddle every Icelandic citizen with a 13,000 euro debt. Their economy is bad enough as it is. It's not a very socially conscious step by our minister." Minister Bos is a member of the Labour party.
Unfair terms
Iceland's former Health Minister Ogmondur Jonasson told Dutch BNR Radio that the terms of the repayment deal are unfair on the Icelanders. The country is quite willing to repay, but not on the terms of Mr Bos, he said. A similar view was expressed to the BBC by President Grimsson on Friday. Mr Jonasson resigned last year because he disagreed with the refund deal.
Meanwhile, Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said a refusal by Iceland to come up with the money will have negative consequences for Reykjavik's EU membership bid. Spain is speaking out on this topic because the country is the current EU chair, and apparently does not want to wait for a statement by EU President Herman van Rompuy or EU Foreign Minister Baroness Aston, who have remained conspicuously silent on the issue.
Referendum
The Netherlands and the United Kingdom helped Iceland in 2009 with a 3.8 billion euro loan to cover the deposits in Icelandic banks lost by Dutch and British depositors. Dutch Finance Minister now wants his money back, all 1.3 billion euros of it, with interest. A quick calculation reveals that each of the 320,000 Icelanders owes the Dutch 12,000 euros. No wonder that the Icelandic population petitioned President Olafur Grimsson to veto the bill that would have sealed the repayment deal.
Mr Grimsson obliged by putting the bill to a referendum, the date of which will be set by parliament on Friday.
Protests against the crisis fall-out in Iceland began early in 2009 (ANP Photo)
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The Dutch investors are not poor but in fact very reach & greedy. Most of it is people's money (tax payers) High risk big loss, don't cry.
I understand that Dutch investors were attracted to the high interest rates the banks in Iceland were paying and as such should have taken the old saying "the higher the return, the higher the risks" into account. They invested at their own risk.
Yes, eventually Iceland should repay the debt but not at a speed that would break the country. At the same speed that the creators of this financial mess are repaying their debts...
Any political arm-twisting now on behalf of the EU over Iceland's future membership is idiotic. If Iceland's government and people were willing to repay the $3.8 billion, Iceland would never stand a chance of membership as the qualifications for the budget deficit of 3 per cent at a maximum annually would be unresalistic for ages. Iceland's consequential bankruptcy would also not endear the British and Dutch to any great applause for a new global fiancial crisis which could very well arise from the situation. This attempt at blackmail is truly an act of political desparation, and not a means towards arriving at a real solution. This is a mess that everyone participating in it is in, greed playing no favourites.
I think eventually, Britain and nederlands is pushing their EU Veto power too far and it will eventually backfire. Give Iceland a break, they plan on paying every cent back but not all at once and suffering because of it.
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