REYKJAVIK: Iceland’s president on Thursday put off signing legislation to compensate Britain and the Netherlands for losses from the collapse of a popular Internet savings bank marketed outside Iceland.
President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson indicated he wanted more time to study the controversial legislation, which was narrowly approved late Wednesday by the Althingi, the national Parliament. If he withholds his signature, the legislation would go to an unprecedented referendum, where it would face strong opposition.
The legislation provides 2.3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) to Britain and 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion) to the Netherlands from 2016 to repay expenditures by those nations to compensate citizens who lost money in the collapse of Internet bank Icesave.
Grimsson indicated he would meet with members of InDefence, a grass roots group which opposes compensation, before making a decision. Opponents of the legislation have gathered 40,000 signatures on a petition that will be presented to the president on Saturday, urging him not to sign the bill.
Iceland must settle the claims arising from the Icesave collapse before it can draw on $4.6 billion in promised bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund and Nordic countries.
Grimsson had been expected to sign during the customary end-of-year meeting with the government at the presidential residence. He withheld approval of one bill in 2004, the only time since Iceland gained independence in 1944 that a president had not signed a bill. The Icesave bill was passed by 33-30 in a sometimes stormy legislative session, and some spectators shouted “treason” after the final vote.
Around 100 protesters stood outside the Parliament building, some throwing snowballs at the building or setting off small firecrackers and fireworks.
The government had reached an agreement with Britain and the Netherlands in June, but the Althingi attached conditions which were unacceptable to the two governments. An opinion poll in July found that nearly 70 percent of the respondents were “very much against” passage of the legislation.
