Voters in Iceland on Saturday resoundingly rejected a US$5.3 billion plan to pay off Britain and the Netherlands for debts spawned by the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank, initial results showed.
Results returned from about 74,150 ballots counted so far in a country of about 320,000 showed that 93 percent of voters said “no” in the referendum, compared to just 1.6 percent who said “yes.”
The referendum results are indicative of how angry many Icelanders are as the tiny island nation struggles to recover from a deep recession.
The global financial crisis wreaked political and economic havoc on Iceland, as its banks collapsed within the space of a week in October 2008 and its currency, the krona, plummeted.
The Icelandic government was the first to fall as a result of the meltdown.
Icelanders were deciding whether to approve the payment of US$3.5 billion to Britain and US$1.8 billion to the Netherlands as compensation for funds that those governments paid to about 340,000 of their citizens who had accounts with the collapsed bank Icesave.
The Icelandic Internet bank had offered high interest rates before it failed along with its parent, Landsbanki.
“This result is no surprise,” Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said. “Now we must turn to the task of finishing the negotiations on Icesave.”
The debt owed to Britain and the Netherlands is a small sum compared with the massive amounts spent to rescue other victims of the global meltdown — US$182.5 billion was paid out to keep US insurance giant American International Group alive — but many taxpayers in the country say they can’t afford to pay it.
The deal would require each person to pay about US$135 a month for eight years — the equivalent of a quarter of an average four-member family’s salary.
Many voters object to the terms of the deal, not the idea of payment itself.
Locals also see the deal as an unfair result of their own government’s failure to curtail the excessive spending of a handful of bank executives that led the country into its current malaise.
“I said no,” Palmar Olason, 71, said at a polling station. “We should get a better deal.”
If final results show most voters agreed with him, Iceland’s credit ratings could be jeopardized, making it harder to access much-needed funding to fuel an economic recovery.
Unemployment has surged since the crisis began, to about 9 percent in January, and inflation is running at about 7 percent annually, while the nation’s economy continues to shrink.
Britain and the Netherlands have been pushing hard for repayment and there have been fears that they will take a hardline stance on Iceland’s application to join the EU and refuse to approve the start of accession talks until an Icesave deal is signed into law.
About 1,000 Icelanders gathered to protest in downtown Reykjavik on Saturday, demanding a better say in the issue.
Many ordinary Icelanders have said they resent forking out the money to compensate for losses incurred by potentially wealthier foreign investors who chased the high interest rates offered by Icesave.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS