International news agencies have been quite active in their coverage of
the new Icelandic government, with much of the attention on Prime
Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
An article on the BBC website calls Sigurðardóttir’s position a “gay milestone”, as she is the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe.
“Up until now, if a gay man or woman has been prime minister, they have done their best to conceal the fact.” The BBC reports, very astutely adding: “In Iceland itself, however, the new prime minister’s sexual orientation appears to be causing less excitement than it is abroad.”
Elsewhere, the Guardian focused its attention on Finance, Agriculture and Fishing Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon.
“We really want to see interest rates go down, so that would
be a high priority to discuss. How soon and how quickly can we
see interest rates coming down,” he told Reuters. “Let’s look at all the possible options: to keep the krona, the unilateral adoption of some currency, a union with someone, most often we are speaking about Norway.”
Even China’s Xinhua news service deemed Iceland’s government change newsworthy, as did Al Jazeera, AFP and AP.