Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.04.2019, Blaðsíða 46

46 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06— 2019
WAR OF THE NERDS
Battle Of The
Populists
IceExit on the horizon
Words: Valur Grettisson Photo: Art Bicnick
Fine. Let’s get into the Third En-
ergy Package. There is no way
around this, I guess. The debate
about the European Union’s gas
and electricity market legislation
has proven to be the biggest popu-
listic debate in Icelandic society
for a while and has even been nick-
named IceExit in the spirit of the
mother of all messes, Brexit.
In short, Iceland, as a part of
European Economic Area (EEA),
needs to adapt all EU regulations,
good or bad, or risk endangering
the EEA agreement. This is, of
course, part of the debate; that is,
if the agreement will be in dan-
ger if the Icelandic government
doesn’t adopt it.
Iceland has already adopted the
first and second part of the EU’s
energy package. Like with all great
movies, the third one is always
the best. Right? The Third Pack-
age is, more or less (and keep in
mind, this is a grossly simplified
explanation), about giving con-
sumers more rights. But the real
problem here is that an interna-
tional institution, the Agency for
the Cooperation of Energy Regula-
tors (ACER), would have ultimate
authority if two signatory coun-
tries get into a dispute over cross-
border energy trade.
Still with me?
Everybody that lives in Iceland,
of course, would point out that
Iceland does not export its energy
for obvious reasons. We live on
an island and in the middle of the
goddamn Atlantic ocean. It would
cost 800 billion ISK to build a cable
between Iceland and the UK. And
then you have the incredibly tech-
nical complications of transport-
ing the energy.
So on to the battle of
the populists.
There has been an intense debate
around the issue, where Sigmun-
dur Davið Gunnlaugsson, chair-
man of the Centre Party (you
remember him from such docu-
mentaries as The Panama Papers),
leads an interesting pack of popu-
lists who believe that the evil EU
are after Icelandic energy sources.
Of course, like good populists, it
came to appear in Stundin, a local
news magazine, that none other
than Sigmundur Davíð and his
band of populists actually wanted
to agree to the Third Energy Pack-
age when he was Prime Minister
in 2015. Not only that, they reject-
ed the Left-Green proposal about
making specific precautions about
transporting the energy out of the
country, so the regulation would
not apply to Icelandic conditions.
So what's the real debate here?
Well, there are two answers for
that. First—and this is the obvi-
ous one—the Centre Party are try-
ing to seduce the conservatives
from the Independence Party to
their side. And second, they want
to go down a dangerous and un-
precedented road with the EEA
agreement, which has given Ice-
land the opportunity to be com-
petitive within the larger Euro-
pean market.
CITY SHOT
by Art Bicnick
WELL, YOU ASKED
Third-Wheeling
And Hot Dogs
Words: Aliya Uteuova
Any tips on how to quickly determine
if a familiar face in public (e.g. at the
grocery store, pool, restaurant or on
the street) is an actual acquaintance
or just a famous person? I can't
count the number of times I nearly
approached someone to say ‘hi’ only
to realise that I only know them from
politics or TV.
I used to stroll around the university
waving at strangers thinking they were
my friends. Then there were days when
I ignored my friends’ eye-contact and
hellos. The honest excuse for me is
my poor vision, but perhaps you could
borrow it next time you bump into a
local celebrity.
How does one properly hotdog in
Iceland?
With a selfie and plenty of gum
afterwards.
How do you become a hot air balloon
pilot?
It is one of the toughest jobs to get into.
The competition is super high, you
wouldn’t believe how many proficient
third wheelers there are. But if you have
valid experience of staying stoic while
a couple has their romantic moment
three inches from you, you might have
a chance.
How do you avoid former lovers
in a city as small as Reykjavík? Do
you stop going out or do you go full
stalker?
Since Iceland is a big village, it ’s
probably impossible to avoid your ex.
Embrace the uncomfortable hello or
hide inside a puffin store, either way,
you’re bound to have something to talk
about with friends over some hotdogs.
Just be sure to carry gum, you never
know when you might want to kiss your
next ex.

Send your unsolvable (UNTIL NOW)
problems to editor@grapevine.is or
tweet us at @rvkgrapevine.
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