Iceland review - 2007, Page 13

ICELAND REVIEW 11
VIEWS OF ICELAND
“The participation marks a turning
point for elections in the form of
inhabitant democracy. The difference
is small but nonetheless we must
respect the results,” said Hafnarfjördur
Mayor Lúdvík Geirsson.
Director of Alcan in Iceland
Rannveig Rist addressed her sup-
porters after the final results were
made public and thanked them for
their contribution to the campaign.
“People are sad and disappointed,”
Rist said. “We will continue to run
the current factory as well as we can
and will take our time to consider
what the future will hold. But there
is no plan B.”
Alcan is now looking into
possibilities to construct a new smelter
near Thorlákshöfn, in southwest
Iceland, as ruv.is revealed May 29.
Discussions are in the preliminary
stages.
glaciers
in iceland melting
“faster than ever”
Oddur Sigurdsson, an Icelandic
geologist who has undertaken studies
of Iceland’s glaciers, said in early April
that the nation’s glaciers are melting
at record speed and could entirely
disappear within the next 200 years
due to global warming.
“Based on the data it is obvious that
the melting’s foremost cause is summer
heat, which has increased considerably
in the last ten years,” Sigurdsson told
RÚV April 9, adding that he believes
global warming is the gravest problem
ever faced by the human race.
French geologist Jean-Marc
Bouvier, who described this situation
as a “meteorological time bomb,”
has also undertaken studies of the
Greenland Ice Cap and told RÚV that
once the Arctic glaciers disappear the
global sea levels will be nine meters
higher, thus f looding areas currently
inhabited by a total of one billion
people.
iceland signs defense
agreement with norway
and denmark
Iceland’s [former] Foreign Minister
Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir and Norway’s
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere
signed a defense agreement in Oslo
April 26. Iceland and Denmark signed
a similar declaration agreeing to
cooperate further on defense, RÚV
reported April 26.
The agreement between Iceland
and Norway includes increased
visitations and exercises, as well as
other defense operations of special
military forces in Iceland. Stoere said
he did not expect Norwegian military
jets to be stationed in Iceland in the
long term.
Stoere also told reporters there
would not be additional costs involved
for Norway and that the operations
were within the framework of the
current budget given to the military.
The minister emphasized that Iceland
and Norway had a good relationship
despite their disagreements over
fishing quotas.
Iceland and Denmark’s agreement
is a confirmation of the one reached
in January regarding increased super-
vision of fishing and pollution. The
Icelandic Coast Guard and Danish
Navy already cooperate considerably
and it will increase thanks to the
agreement, which also stipulates that
Iceland will support Danish military
forces during their exercises at Kef lavík
airport in Iceland.
Iceland’s Prime Minister Geir
H. Haarde said both agreements are
framework agreements, which have
yet to be completed.
“I want to emphasize that we have
a good relationship with both nations,
our neighbors, both within NATO and
the Nordic Region Co-Operative,”
concluded [former] Foreign Minister
Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir.
Iceland’s opposition parties have
mixed feelings towards the agreement.
Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir [current
Foreign Minister], leader of the Social
Democrats (Samfylkingin) said the
agreements involve cooperation in
a neighboring spirit. Left Green
(Vinstri graenir) leader Steingrímur
J. Sigfússon called it unnecessary
“tumbling about.”
baugur ceo and former
assistant director found
guilty
Baugur CEO Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson
and former assistant director Tryggvi
Jónsson were given a suspended
sentence of three and nine months,
respectively, for embezzlement in
Reykjavík District Court May 4.
“I did not expect this result and
I find it rather harsh. I have always
maintained my innocence and I will
continue to do so and take this to
the next judicial level,” Jónsson told
Fréttabladid May 4.
Both Jóhannesson and Jónsson
have announced they will appeal
the ruling to the Supreme Court of
Iceland. Jóhannesson also said there
was a basis for a compensation case
against the Icelandic state.
Jóhannesson was given a three-
month suspended sentence for having
wrongly registered a credit invoice
from Nordica Inc. as income in his
company’s accounts. Jónsson was
granted a nine-month suspended
sentence for the same charge in
addition to three other charges. Ten
charges out of 19 against Jóhannesson
and Jónsson were dismissed.
The charges against Jón Gerald
Sullenberger, managing director
of Nordica, were dismissed on the
grounds that he had served as a witness
in the Baugur investigation but not as
a defendant.
Reykjavík District Court
concluded it would be unconstitutional
to charge Sullenberger for what he had
disclosed to police as a witness. The
police should have given him the legal
status of a defendant from the first
interrogation, as stated in the ruling.
Appointed public prosecutor
Sigurdur Tómas Magnússon said the
ruling had found Jóhannesson and
Jónsson guilty of serious violations
though in his opinion they had been
found not guilty of a more serious
violation, embezzlement in connection
with the yacht Thee Viking.
Magnússon said the state may
therefore appeal the ruling to the
Supreme Court.
Views of Iceland | IR 2.07 | Vol. 45
this quarter’s news from your favorite island nation excerpted from icelandreview.com
Compiled by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir
“...The difference is small but
nonetheless we must respect
the results.”
“I want to emphasize that
we have a good relationship
with both nations, our
neighbors, both within NATO
and the Nordic Region Co-
Operative.”
“I did not expect this result
and I find it rather harsh. I
have always maintained my
innocence and I will continue
to do so and take this to the
next court level.”