Geir H. Haarde, Icelandic Prime Minister today announced (at a press conference) his intention that all elected officials and judges should take a pay cut. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson suggested a few weeks ago that he would welcome such a move and that he hoped Haarde would consider it.
The PM made his announcement at a press conference this afternoon, held in conjunction with Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Foreign Minister and head of the Social Democrats (the other coalition government party with Geir Haarde’s Independence Party).
MBL.is reported that Haarde would not be drawn on numbers, but said it would be in the region of a 5 to 15 percent pay cut.
Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir said that now there are very special circumstances in society and that politicians’ pay should reflect that.
MPs’ pension rights will be changed too, if the bill is passed in parliament over the coming weeks. This will mean that funds will not be accessible until the age of 60, rather than the current 55.
Over-wage pension contributions would decrease while the proportion of pension contribution taken out of officials’ wages would increase.
The Prime Minister also said at the press conference that he has discussed with all opposition party leaders the establishment of an investigative panel to carry out a full inquiry into the collapse of the Icelandic banking sector. He said he hopes a bill will be introduced to parliament on the issue in the next few weeks.
Fantastic. Everybody where I work lost all our overtime and also took a 20% pay cut. Sure hope that the 5-15% does not drive any of the politicians over the edge. Wonder if it will even happen or is this just his “intention”.
Of course I “intended” to be very wealthy by now, but that has not happened either.
be happy you still have work.
This is just the beginning.