Iceland review - 2016, Page 61

ICELAND REVIEW 59
A strange calm has descended on
Iceland in the last couple of
months. It’s as if we have taken a
deep breath, stretched our legs, straight-
ened our backs, looked around and real-
ized that this really is a rather wonderful
country we live in. Things are, for the
most part, in good shape. At first, you
may think this new calm has something
to do with the weather. We have had one
of the best summers on record, with end-
less calm, sunny days. But the weather
has nothing to do with it. The clement
weather is but a metaphor for something
less tangible. Even the jostling for posi-
tion ahead of the parliamentary elections
on October 29 has failed to disrupt the
harmonious atmosphere.
Indeed, this newfound feeling of relief
has everything to do with the remov-
al of two men from public office and
their replacement by altogether different
types. Two politicians who have thrived
on discord, either unable or unwill-
ing to seek consensus: Prime Minister
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and
long-term president, Ólafur Ragnar
Grímsson, have both left office and been
replaced by more convivial men who
know that it’s possible to disagree with
others without conducting open warfare.
A NEW PRIME MINISTER
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was
forced out of office following the Panama
Papers revelations. It transpired that he
and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir,
held assets in a company called Wintris,
registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Not only that, it was also disclosed that
Wintris held substantial claims on the
defunct Icelandic banks during a time
when the biggest single issue Sigmundur
Davíð’s government was dealing with was
negotiating with their creditors, of which
he himself was one through Wintris.
Although he was not legally required
to do so, the fact that he never thought
to disclose either the offshore money
or his relationship with the creditors of
the banks shows a complete lack of a
moral compass. It’s difficult to imagine
a leader of another Western country
not resigning immediately. Despite being
caught on camera lying about his owner-
ship of Wintris, Sigmundur Davíð held
on for dear life for a few days. One
strange episode followed another, cul-
minating in the most bizarre day in
Icelandic political history, during which
he allegedly resigned, then denied hav-
ing resigned and finally confirmed that
he had resigned. But only as PM, not as
party leader. It was like watching a car
crash in slow motion.
Despite calls for a change in leader-
ship, the coalition with the Independence
Party held, and Sigmundur Davíð was
replaced as prime minister by the former
Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture,
Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson. Trained as a
veterinary surgeon, Sigurður Ingi seems
to be a safe pair of hands and capable of
constructive relations with the opposi-
tion in parliament, unlike his predeces-
sor, who seemed genuinely incapable of
any kind of consensus or constructive
dialogue.
Since leaving office, Sigmundur
Davíð has reared his head a couple of
times, announcing his imminent return
to public life. Unable to fathom that
there might be something amiss in his
own behavior, he has blamed a global
conspiracy for his downfall. This real-
ly is too far-fetched and boring to go
into in detail. Suffice it to say that the
plot apparently originated with George
Soros, the hedge fund manager and one
of the world’s richest people, famous
for forcing the UK government out of
the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992
and making over a billion pounds at the
expense of the UK Treasury. His fund
held claims on the defunct Icelandic
banks, a trade in which he ended up los-
ing money. Soros apparently instigated
the largest leak of confidential docu-
ments in history and managed to get the
Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists
involved in order to discredit an incon-
venient Icelandic prime minister over
a fairly small position for one of his
investment funds. Imagine what Soros
OPINION