Iceland has been waiting with bated breath for the Efta court’s
ruling, which has now come: Iceland was right to refuse British and
Dutch Icesave customers compensation after the online bank’s collapse
in 2008.
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir says Iceland has won the
dispute. She thinks the victory will have a positive effect on
Iceland’s economy.
The Prime Minister hopes the court’s decision will help Iceland
regain its economic credibility internationally. She also thinks it
will now be easier for Iceland to lift restrictions on the purchase of
foreign currency which have been in place since the crash.
Needed support
But Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is disappointed with the way other Nordic
countries reacted at the beginning of the crash, and feels they failed
to provide support when Iceland needed it.
“The world was against Icelanders and we only had a few allies,”
remembers Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
The country faced national bankruptcy. The Prime Minister underlines
that Iceland struggled to borrow money, even from other Nordic
countries.
“We would have been grateful for any support we so desperately
needed from our closest friends. We had support from the Faroe Islands,
but I had expected a greater amount of understanding and more support
from our Nordic brothers,” says Prime Minister Jóhanna
Sigurðardóttir.
Could help lift restrictions
The Governor of the Central Bank Of Iceland, Már Guðmundsson, thinks
Efta’s decision is good news for Iceland. He believes Iceland’s credit
ratings will improve and that investors will show renewed interest in
the country. He also believes Efta’s decision can help lift
restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency.
“How the national and international economies develop and how the
2014 budget will look is also important,” says Governor Már
Guðmundsson.
The precise consequences of the court’s decision on an international
scale are still not clear. Governor Már Guðmundsson believes Efta’s
decision can lead to a review of EU banking directives, especially
those covering banking guarantees and international banking.
Professor Eiríkur Bergmann Einarsson at the Centre for European
Studies in Iceland wonders whether Efta’s decision can influence the
political debate in Europe’s crisis-hit countries.
“The Efta court’s decision is the first step in the direction of
making bank owners, private financiers, pay their debts rather than tax
payers,” says Professor Einarsson.
Carefully studying the decision
As Icesave collapsed, British and Dutch authorities guaranteed their
citizens’ savings. Iceland has paid most of the minimum amount of money
it had agreed to pay. But British tax payers will now loose 115 million
euro as a result of the Efta court’s decision.
The UK says it will study the Efta court’s decision carefully.
