The status of the ruling coalition was hotly debated in parliament yesterday, with few surprises. Meanwhile, the committee investigating the causes of the bank collapse intends to release their report soon.
Independence Party chairman Bjarni Benediktsson said in parliament yesterday that the result of the Icesave referendum proves that the government stands on shaky ground. Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir said that the argument was facile, pointing out that many supporters of the ruling coalition voted against the Icesave law. She said the results of the referendum surprised no one, and that furthermore, the British and Dutch want negotiations to continue.
In related news, the committee investigating the causes of the bank collapse are currently finishing the final chapter on their report. Many politicians who were in power before and during the bank collapse recently received letters detailing how they would be depicted in this report, and were given a time frame to respond. It is not known if any politician chose to do so.
The report itself, which investigates what led to the bank collapse, who facilitated it, and possibly what could have been done differently, is an estimated 2,000 pages long. The committee intends to publish the report online as well.
Originally, this report was meant to come out last fall, but it has been delayed several times. It nearly came out at the end of February, which prompted Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sígfússon to openly speculate whether then then-upcoming Icesave referendum should be postponed, in order to give people time to read the report before casting their ballots. The Independence Party and the Progressives both rejected the idea. Possibly because it is expected that both of these parties will feature prominently in the report.