According to sources close to Fréttablaðið, the ruling coalition could
split if Icesave isn’t resolved within the government in a week’s time.
The source says that Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has lost all patience in the matter, and does not believe that any member of the opposition can be trusted to support the Icesave deal. Therefore, every single member of the ruling coalition must vote with the deal in order for it to pass.
However, many Social Dems are worried that Leftist-Green Minister of Health Ögmundur Jónasson and his allies remain strongly opposed to many details of the Icesave agreement, as they had been last summer. At the same time, British and Dutch authorities had their own objections to the Icesave draft from last summer, e.g., that responsibility be extended until 2024.
When Sigurðardóttir was asked if the coalition will dissolve should Social Dems and Leftist-Greens be unable to unite behind a single Icesave deal, she replied that their situation would have to be reviewed at that time.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon continues talks with British and Dutch authorities to reach an agreement. Fréttablaðið’s source adds that the matter has clearly been very trying on the ruling coalition, and on parliament as a whole.