Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.03.2013, Blaðsíða 6

Jack of All Trades?
We check in with Iceland’s Minister of Industries
and Innovation Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
by Paul Fontaine
Minister of Industries and Innovation Steingrímur J. Sigfússon has had an eventful last four years.
During this time, he went from being an opposition party MP to a ruling coalition minister charged
with trying to breathe life back into Iceland’s post-crash economy. Now with parliamentary elec-
tions only months away, Steingrímur has announced that he will be stepping down as chair of the
Left Green party. Curious about his decision, we thought we’d drop him a line and gather some of
his thoughts on the state of Icelandic politics while we were at it.
Iceland | Politics
You have just decided to step down as chair
of the Left Greens, a post you've occupied
since the party was founded more than 14
years ago. What are the main reasons for
this?
As chair of one of the ruling coalition parties, I
have been working for the last four years on the dif-
ficult task of bringing Iceland out of the financial
recession. I am proud of what we have achieved, but
the struggle is far from over. After careful consid-
eration, I decided that it would be a good time to
step down, both for me and for the party. Renewal
is necessary in politics just as it is elsewhere. I am
very happy with my decision and with myself and
look forward to continuing the struggle in politics
with my colleagues.
What are you proudest of? What could have
been done better?
The success that we have achieved in taking the
country out of the economic danger zone and re-
newing its financial independence stands out. We
could have worked faster to improve the job market,
which has been affected by the economic problems
in other European countries. Also, household debt
remains a big problem and that’s something that I
would have liked to do more to alleviate.
You've had a lot of titles since the 2009 elec-
tions. According to your CV, you have been
Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Min-
ister of Finance, Minister of Economic Af-
fairs and of Fisheries and Agriculture, and
finally Minister of Industries and Innova-
tion. Are you sort of a "jack of all trades"?
How does one become minister of all these
things?
This is all connected to the renovation of the gov-
ernment ministries, and not exactly because I want-
ed to run many ministries (though I don’t have any-
thing against taking on challenging projects). Most
of these different fields have been united into a new
and powerful ministry, which improves the task of
governing and makes my life easier.
Minister of Industries and Innovation seems
like a pretty large umbrella. What does "In-
novation" mean in this context; what does it
entail for you in your job?
The “innovation” part of the name of the ministry
refers to working on projects connected to the de-
velopment of employment, funds that can be applied
for support, and research into the costs for such de-
velopment. We work closely with the public labour
market and support progressive development in this
area, which not least of all revolves around innova-
tion.
Can you briefly explain the reasons behind
the government renovation?
We decided to re-organise the government, and
there were solid rationales for doing so from, among
other sources, the Special Investigative Commission
report. These sources pointed out that part of the
weakness in Icelandic governance before the crash
was that we had too many ineffective ministries and
far too many small offices which poorly managed
the tasks they had to handle in a complicated mod-
ern world. So the government took action. We have
reduced the number of ministries from 12 to eight,
saved money and made our work more effective.
Why do you think we've seen a lot of long-
standing female members of parliament an-
nounce that they are not going to run again,
yet almost no long-standing male members
of parliament have said the same?
This is great cause for concern and not at all what
the Left Greens want to see, as a party of women’s
liberation. The past year has been a difficult one in
politics, which could have had a part to play in this.
In addition, we have to realise that there is still a lot
of unfinished business in order to create complete
gender equality, among other areas, in politics.
The economy is demonstrably recovering,
but support for the Left Greens has been
steadily decreasing. Four of the party's MPs
have since left the parliamentary party or
left the party itself. Do you think the newly
formed parties are breaking apart the left
wing, while the conservatives remain a unit-
ed front?
No, I think the activism and new political cam-
paigns are more centrist, and the choices are in-
creasing there. The Left Greens are and will be,
in my mind, the main choice among those who are
solidly on the left.
Why are Icelanders seemingly ready to re-
elect the party that ruined us financially?
That’s a very good question and will be very wor-
risome if that becomes the case, but I’ll have to
see that happen to believe it. I think people will
be reminded of various matters when the election
campaign begins, and people will begin to seriously
consider the choices before them.
Two Icelandic political parties held national conven-
tions last weekend. They were both very exciting, but
one sentence in particular stood out from the fray: "All
legislation shall at all times be guided by Christian val-
ues and traditions when appropriate."
I was surprised to hear this policy proposal put for-
ward at the national convention of Iceland's conserva-
tive Independence Party. It had the feeling of a miracle
about it. I would clearly have to reconsider my attitude
towards the IP. John Kenneth Galbraith would certain-
ly have to eat his words: “The modern conservative is
engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral phi-
losophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justifi-
cation for selfishness.”
From now on, it would be “What would Jesus do?”
Marxist literary critic Terry Eagleton remarked in
his 2007 essay “Jesus Christ: the Gospels” that Jesus
of Nazareth is depicted as "homeless, propertyless,
peripatetic, socially marginal, disdainful of kinfolk,
without a trade or occupation, a friend of outcasts and
pariahs, averse to material possessions, without fear for
his own safety, a thorn in the side of the establishment
and a scourge of the rich and powerful.” Could it be that
the Independence Party was doing a complete 180?
It certainly seemed so. As in the Gospel according to
St. Matthew, when Jesus is challenged by the follow-
ers of the Pharisees:
"Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay
taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their
malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you
hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And
they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them,
"Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered,
"The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore
to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to
God the things that are God's."
And what about foreign policy? Even Canada, a na-
tion that hopped on the American war wagon when it
came to the invasion of Afghanistan, turned up its nose
when it came to the Iraq War. Not so the Independence
Party, which stained Iceland with membership in the Co-
alition of the Willing when in government in 2003. Their
Christian values would now make them disdain such ill-
considered adventures: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
In addition to loving their enemies, renouncing
wealth, paying taxes, and helping the poor; no doubt
they would also wish to pour money into the healthcare
system, doctoring the sick without asking for compen-
sation, as Jesus used to do.
Then I got the bad news. Apparently voices within
the Independence Party rose up to point out that such
language was unconstitutional. The youth wing of
the party in particular seemed to dislike it, knowing
which side their bread is buttered on.
I usually don't refer to holy books when it comes to
politics, but since the Independence Party opened Pan-
dora's Box and let the cat out of the bag, to mix a few
more metaphors, I was in a Biblical mind when consid-
ering the other national political convention, that of the
Left Greens.
While the IP Chair Bjarni Benediktsson clung to
power despite his unpopularity among his own party,
the Left Green leader Steingrímur J. Sigfússon did the
opposite. He announced that he would abdicate his po-
sition as party chair, clearing the path for the brilliant
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the most popular minister in the
coalition government.
The fractiousness of the Left Greens in recent his-
tory has been less than impressive: but their least adapt-
able and eccentric representatives had left the field by
the time of their last policy convention, ending a long
streak of bad public relations. Evolution has put the Left
Greens in good fighting form.
If I must make a Biblical reference here, I will refer
to the marriage at Cana (John 2:6-10) when, after the
wine had run out, Jesus turned water into wine. Not in
on the joke, the steward of the feast complemented the
bridegroom:
“Every man at the beginning doth set forth good
wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which
is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
Guy Stewart is a teacher
in Reykjavík.
Thou Hast
Kept The
Good Wine
Until Now
Alísa Kalyanova
6The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 3 — 2013