Ögmundur Jónasson, the Minister of Justice, Transport and Communications, has told reporters that he is against Dutch military consultancy firm ECA Program conducting business in Iceland.
ECA Program is a company that provides military training and consultation to countries around the world. The Leftist-Greens have been vehemently opposed to the idea of the company beginning operations here, but former Minister of Transportation and Communications Kristján Möller apparently told the Civil Aviation Authority to give ECA the green light to begin work in Iceland.
Ögmundur Jónasson – who oversees the jursidiction that Kristján used to cover – recently said that his main concern was whether or not “the work [ECA Program does] is in harmony with the government position on a peaceful foreign policy”, adding that very little is known about the work ECA Program actually conducts.
Yesterday, Vísir reports, Ögmundur told parliament that he is against the idea of the company conducting any operations in Iceland.
In parliament, the minister was posed the question by Progressive MP Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson of whether or not he supports the company doing business in Iceland. Ögmundur responded that he believed that despite promises that the company would create around 150 jobs in the heavily-unemployed Suðurnes region, that it would actually cost the government a tremendous amount of money to support it, concluding, “I believe very strongly that it would not be advisable to support this project, not at all.”
This officially puts ECA Program’s future in Iceland in jeopardy, as Ögmundur is the Icelandic authority with the final say in the matter. No response from ECA Program has been forthcoming at the time of this writing.
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