The Icelandic Prime Minister, Geir H. Haarde is determined not to let the current economic situation ruin the long-standing friendship between Iceland and Britain.
He stated that the assets of Landsbanki can cover most of the Icesave deposits in Britain and talks with a team from Britain are scheduled this weekend to find a solution.
The PM emphasised that the governments of Iceland and Britain are willing to find a satisfactory solution for everyone involved.
Part of Haarde‘s press conference, held this afternoon, was a reaction to the announcement made by British Chancellor Alistair Darling and Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday morning that Icelandic authorities did not intend to secure the deposits of IceSave in Britain and that they would therefore take legal action against Iceland.
Haarde was strongly disturbed by such approach and called it the act of terror which should not be applied in situations like these.
“But of course we will approach this in a way that claimants are not being discriminated against, regardless of their nationality, and those who are responsible for the operations of the banks now will have to sort it out,” the Prime Minister said.
Haarde assured that the Icelandic state treasury would honour all its debts. He also stated that the reputation of Iceland is first and foremost what the government wants to protect.
„Iceland does not intend to run away from its responsibility like many people in Britain seem to fear,” said Björgvin G. Sigurdsson, the Minister of Commerce in Iceland.
Sigurdsson stated that deposits will be prioritized in case of a receivership which means that account holders will be the first to receive benefits from Landsbanki. “What remains will naturally be a matter of agreement between these two great friendly nations.”
Read more on financial crisis in Iceland on IceNews:
IceSave customers to get UK support
IceSave customers consoled by Iceland PM agreeable solution sought
Iceland economic update: full analysis
the only good bank system is existed only at enuj . unfortunately there is no flight to get there .
Reading through these posts and others i am embarrassed to be British and very proud to live in Iceland.
Spot on James! I don’t remember delegating anyone to speak on my behalf. It’s ironic that rather than perfidious Iceland it’s those rapacious British investors now being cast as the bad guys. I don’t really care because, thanks to the British Government, I’m going to get my money back anyway but I can’t help but think that Iceland’s return to third world nation status is well deserved and long overdue.
James, sorry mate, as mentioned before “Caveat Emptor”. Look it up!!!
Julian A Sims apologies on behalf of the sane British people? He certainly doesnt apologise on behalf of me and Im 100% sane.
Icelandic banks lost the money, its the Icelandic governments responsibility to pay it back. If they need a loan from Roman Abromovich to do this I dont care, just get it done.
Hi Koben,
In response to your complaint let me explain: in moderating comments, we try to filter out spam and morally offensive material – the rest is fair game – even quotes from French articles if they are even somewhat relevant. We have many readers in French speaking countries.
Thanks for reading IceNews
I guess everybody has its share in this case. Greedy people outside Iceland that didn’t read the signs (the crisis isn’t new) and now are whining, stupid Icelandic government and banking system and yes, Icelandic people as well. Iceland has no industry. Nothing. It’s a hedge fund country. Oh, there is fish and hot water. The banks supported the country’s ‘economic growth’ and the (until now) increase of life status and spending power of the local population. The problem is that they were playing with other people’s money by lending to Icelanders. People don’t pay things there, they just wanted the credit to keep that Arab prince’s lifestyle. You ‘buy’ a car and it would take 15 years to pay. Do you stop spending until you have it done? Nope. You know that you’re not paying it anyway, so you ask for more money to that trip to Spain or to buy an apartment in Reykjavik. There you go, you now have debts for the next 70 years… but it doesn’t matter, because you know you’re not paying it.
I just hope that everyone have learned their lesson now.
I wonder why the moderator approved a comment in French with is basically a copy paste of an article of “capital.fr”.
We can read that too Alex, cheers…
Anyhow, as I said earlier I don’t buy this. It’s way too easy to blame a man or even a nation for a worldwide problem due to a failure of a banking system.
Iceland is the first victim because of the ratio: power of their bank / Size of the nation.
It’s not a small Island of 320K inhabitants that historically build his nation on fisheries that can cope with a, once again WORLDWIDE, banking failure.
I am very sad about the tone of some postings here. As someone who has money stuck in Icesave I do not in any way think it is appropriate to make matters worse for Iceland and its people in trying to reclaim this. This matter should be settled calmly and constructively. Iceland’s banks have let their country and many other people down but we must be careful not to compound the problems. I really think people in the UK should remember that although Iceland might mean nothing much to them other than banking, from the perspective of Icelanders, British society and culture is actually very important indeed and they care a great deal about this relationship. The recent banking fiasco aside, there is much we can learn from this peaceful, cohesive, creative and egalitarian society.
Heh… Icelandic GDP is near 12 bln EUR, debts – near 100 bln. EUR. Feel the difference, so to say. They should stop eat, drink and start to work only for fresh water and grass in order ro pay their debts at least within 15-20 years. A bit impossible, in my opinion, without long loans, which will only put the country deeper and deeper. Other way (more realistic) – to declare a country as a bankrupt and start all over again, though “The Best Country For Living” will barely be the most common tag for Iceland after that. Might be in the matter of ecology :)
All the countries realized a scale of crysis. A bit later the understanding of consequances will come. Then hangover will fall on the world. We live in quite interesting era – reforming of the liberal capitalism into the financial socialism (nationalization of the financial giants all over the world proove it quite well). And, in a way, even though the welfare of the whole developed world (basically, most of nothern hemisphere countries and few in south) will decrease, I’m quite optimistic about the future. At least, this catharsis happened without world war III or something like that. It will take years, but new order of finances and people will be absolutely different. The purchasing power of money in +10-15 years future will be bonded by ENERGY, not by cost of concrete boxes (real estate) and cars/clothes. It will give an instrument to keep a strict control on inflation and other currently unavailable features of markets ruling.
Then, Iceland with its heothermal energy will again be a stable and secured country :)
World is constant in it’s chaos.
Dear Iceland. I would like to apologise on behalf of most sane British people for the way that Comrade Brown has made a convenient scapegoat out of you, your country and your banking system.
A few months ago when it was convenient many British individuals and organisations decided that Iceland was the place to put their cash, utilsing a nice convenient internet account. In England we have an ancient law Caveat Emptor which means “let the buyer beware”. These investors in your system knew that there was a risk, they could just as easily have put their money into our National Savings system or many other opportunities for larger deposits. It was their risk, they decided upon Iceland, which is now being made to take the blame for the actions of the likes of the Lehman Brothers in New York, and our own traders on the stock exchange in London. So once again Icelanders, I apologise for our Governments actions, and hope that the real people can maintain the solid centuries old links.
Iceland will only be the first, much of what Gordon Brown has said up to now is proof of this. He’s in panic, and not using his brain very well, if he thinks that a lawsuit will stop a nation from going broke.
I repeat one of the comments above;
The Icelandic prime minister says he intends to repay IceSave account holders, but this begs the question with what? Fish, sheep or seaweed?
Bram. I’m so happy to see a sane person in all this headless flaming. It’s been shown that the Icelandic banks were victims of an International crisis that has left no country unaffected. Most of all I hate how the government in the UK seems to have exaggerated the Icelandic banks’ predicament and acted like neurotic old women.
Au bord de la faillite, l’Etat islandais a tout simplement décidé de fermer son marché boursier jusqu’à lundi.
L’Islande a aussi décidé de nationaliser sa première banque, Kaupthing, ce qui porte à trois le nombre d’établissements bancaires islandais passés dans le giron de l’Etat.
Les difficultés rencontrées par l’Islande sont telles que le Premier ministre Geir Haarde n’a pas hésité à agiter le spectre d’une faillite de l’Etat. Il a appelé jeudi les épargnants à ne pas retirer de fortes sommes de leurs comptes en banque, ce qui selon lui ne ferait qu’aggraver la crise.
“Je veux insister sur la nécessité de garder le calme et de comprendre que le système de transactions fonctionne normalement, et que les dépôts sont en sécurité”, a-t-il assuré.
Avec 300.000 habitants, l’île de l’extrême-nord de l’Europe incarne à elle seule l’éclatement de la crise du crédit. Ses banques se sont développées de manière spectaculaire à l’étranger, tandis que les investisseurs prenaient de larges positions sur la couronne islandaise, une monnaie à haut rendement, provoquant une pluie de devises sur le pays.
La Banque centrale a vainement tenté de soutenir sa monnaie avant de demander un prêt d’urgence à la Russie.
Hi, I am Bram from Holland,
I had also an IceSave account. I think Dutch people like Harry are looking for an black sheep to reflect their anger on. I think this is not good. The citizens of Iceland are not quilty of this.
For example: Harrie, are you personal responsible for the strange behaviour of our politics like Wilders? Are you peronal responsible for the decissions made by Balkenende? I don’t think so.
So the Icelandic citizens are victems of this crisis to!
No problem Harrie, we from Sankt Petersburgski Betfair Inc. will get your euros back, even if it means that Icelandic team has to make 7 own goals against Holland tomorrow.
Hi Harrie
The Icelandic PM would be more suited to working with Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
A man with no integrity should not be allowed anywhere in the civilised world.
If the citizens of Iceland support their PM then perhaps Iceland it demonstrates that Iceland is not civilised.
Shame on you Iceland. You lied to the very people that trusted you and your banks.
The damage will be irreparable.
Shame on you!
Here in Holland we just heard Iceland’s prime minister say that he hoped that the Dutch government would do the same as the UK government, which was/is to pay all Icesave-savings back to their people themselves. And if the Dutch government will not do that that he will then with pleasure see the Dutch government in court. Unbelievable, as if the leader of a banana-republic speaks… Come out of the fantasy world you and your banks seem to have been living in and pay us back our money!
The Iceland PM was very quick to renege on his Government’s obligations to UK savers. No attempt has been made to put in place an effective insurance to protect savers. There is only one irresponsible hot-head in these discussions and it’s the Icelandic PM. The UK will not forget.
The Icelandic prime minister says he intends to repay IceSave account holders, but this begs the question with what ? fish, sheep or seaweed. Since by all accounts it’s central bank have minimal reserves. We in Britain hold Iceland and it’s government in utter contempt which they richly deserve.