Iceland's president says he will not sign a bill to repay Britain the £2.3bn that was lost by British savers when one of the island's banks collapsed.
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson's decision means the legislation will now go to a national referendum. No date has been announced for the poll. British and Dutch savers were hit when the bank Icesave failed. The two governments moved to compensate their citizens and Iceland had in turn been due hand over the cash to Britain. The bill was passed by Iceland's parliament last month after weeks of heated debate. But 60,000 people - about a quarter of the country's electorate - have signed a petition protesting against the bill and calling for the issue to be put to a referendum. Britain urged Iceland to meet its "obligations."
How nice to live in a country where the decision about bankrupting the country is actually made by the electorate, instead of some faceless bureaucrat in Parliament. The Icelandic Government want to repay the money to get Iceland into the EU as soon as possible, but the people of the country are resisting this move. British and Dutch institutions piled into the Icesave Bank to try and get higher returns, which in retrospect were never achievable. CAVEAT EMPTOR as my old Latin teacher would have said had I been bright enough to be taught Latin. They should tell us to PISS OFF!
