Once again, the supposedly powerless Icelandic president has used his constitutional prerogatives. Similar to the situation a year ago, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has vetoed the revised version of the so-called Icesave Bill. This is the bill that formalises the deal between the Icelandic government and foreign creditors.

Last year, the president’s decision to veto the bill provoked a referendum. In the vote, the government’s proposal was defeated and a new bill had to be drawn up. There were negotiations between the government and the Dutch and UK creditors and the current Icesave Bill was the result. President Grímsson has now rejected this bill and forced a referendum.

In his message, Icenews reports that President Grímsson justified his decision by saying that there was public support for a new referendum. The President did acknowledge that the new bill represented a better deal than the previous one. However, he said that even though parliament had passed the new bill by a large majority (44 votes to 16), because the government had not changed since the previous referendum and because the public was involved in the previous decision, there should again be a referendum.

This is the third time an Icelandic president has provoked a referendum. President Grímsson has been responsible for all three decisions.