Iceland – Referendum date fixed

In Iceland the date of the referendum of the so-called Icesave Bill has been set for 6 March. The referendum was caused by President Grímsson’s decision to veto the Bill a couple of weeks ago.

There is still a possibility, though, that the referendum may be cancelled. If the government withdraws the Bill, then the referendum will not take place. There is a strong lobby that would prefer this course of action. If the Bill is defeated in the referendum, then it is argued that negotiations will have to be reopened with the British and Dutch institutions that lost out under the Icesave scheme. However, if the Bill were to be withdrawn then negotiations would also be reopened. So, the argument goes, why not cancel the referendum?

The answer is twofold: the British and Dutch may not be willing to reopen negotiations unless the Bill is defeated and, even then, they may not be overly keen to do so; in addition, if a new Bill is to be prepared, then agreement between the parties in parliament would also have to be reached and this may not be possible. So, at present, the referendum is going ahead.

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