A Facebook group urging parliament to reach an agreement on Icesave and settle the matter has reached nearly 5,000 signatures. By contrast, a petition asking the president not to sign the Icesave deal in its current form has garnered more than 30,000 signatures.
The Facebook group was only formed last weekend, and urges parliament to reach an agreement on Icesave without delay, as the “economic and psychological situation the nation is in” cannot tolerate any more delays. “No matter how bad it hurts now, there is no other way than to agree to the Icesave deal, and that Iceland accepts its obligations,” the statement continues in part.
The petition to the president to reject any Icesave deal in its current form, started by InDefence, had 19,000 five days ago. Both petitions, although started at different times, therefore show similar levels of support.
The Facebook group is not alone in their sentiments. Former Progressive MP Bjarni Harðarson told Vísir that further delays in the Icesave deal do not benefit the Icelandic people. It is also worth pointing out the Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir herself, in a letter sent to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, emphasized that the purpose of the Icesave deal was to settle the matter “irrespective of whether it is legally obliged to do so.” She goes on to say that Icelandic authorities will, at the same time, look into where its obligations lie and, if it turns out that Iceland in fact has no legal obligation to repay UK depositors into Icesave, that “we would certainly expect the other parties to revisit the matter in a spirit of fairness and good faith.”
Members of parliament were still in the process of negotiation late into the night last night, and are not expected to settle the matter any time soon.