Iceland's president blocks £2.3bn Icesave deal to compensate the UK

Iceland's president blocks £2.3bn Icesave deal to compensate the UK

w ww.telegraph.co.uk

Iceland's president has said he will block a £2.3bn deal to compensate the UK for coming to the aid of 300,000 customers of Icesave, the failed internet bank.

President Grimsson's decision comes on the back of public opposition in Iceland to the bill, which would force the country to pay back the UK and Dutch governments for compensating savers who lost money in Icesave accounts following the collapse of Landsbanki.
There have been large demonstrations against the agreement...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.google.com
www.icenews.is[/u rl]
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100105/bs_nm/us_iceland_icesave]news.yahoo.com

In my opinion this news is huge!
I did my searches but found no thread about this remarkable event.
A president who stands up for the best interest of his people in stead of bowing to the pressure of the bank(s) is unprecedented!
About 60,000 people -- or about a quarter of the electorate -- have signed a petition protesting against the bill which they fear will doom them to decades of poverty.
His move is drawing a harsh international response, for the Dutch and British governments fear not being able to collect their money.

This president is setting an example. I hope more will follow.



w ww.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Covered
abovetopsecret..

long live Iceland! I live in UK, but I really don't feel any sentiments about this. I'm just glad that in this world there is at least one sane politician.

Originally posted by infinite
Covered
abovetopsecret..

Still it does not address the uniqueness of the Iceland President's decision. Only the frustration and anger of the UK.
The fact that President Grimsson stands up for his people, is a unique event in our current world...

As a small nation they took a stand not to accept the fraud perpetrated by the bankers. Too bad the rest of us didn't do the same thing. Why do the banks get our tax money when they screwed up. No body is covering my losses so why should I have to cover theirs? Oh thats right, they are to big to fail! So we get the shaft and they get a record bonus. Makes complete sense to me.

[edit on 6-1-2010 by liveandletlive]

A call to the people of the world to support Iceland against financial blackmail

January 5, 2010 is a historical day for Icelanders. The Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson had a tough decision to make, and difficult choices to make. To listen to the 23% of the nation that signed a petition calling on him to put the state guarantee for 5.4 billion dollars to be paid to the British and Dutch governments to a national referendum. Or to ignore the nation and sign the bill for the government, after the bill had been passed through the parliament with a narrow vote on December 30, 2009 after months of acrimonious debate, tainted with secrecy and dishonesty on the part of the government.
...
Let’s also put this debt into perspective: 320.000 people live in Iceland, each and every person on the island, including children and the elderly, the disabled and the poor, would have to pay around $30,000 under the bill. The danger if Icelanders will accept this enormous burden is that the entire welfare system would simply collapse with no money to run it. On January 5th the Icelandic president had the courage, backed up by his nation, to place the interest of the people before that of the banks.

Wow, didn't think such a thing was possible. Often when important decisions are made for the country, they are made by the politicians (who are stealing the country in question blind). In Eastern Europe this happens very regularly lately.

he has to work for the people in this matter, its too much money for too little people to repay, i am in england and would let them off, it is not the peoples fault some greedy bank has condemned them to a life of debt