Monday, January 28, 2013

Iceland Wins! "Icesave" Lawsuit Dismissed, Court Orders EC and EFTA to Pay Costs

Iceland is in an economic recovery thanks to its decision to not bailout banks at taxpayer expense during the great financial collapse. Iceland's decision upset the UK and Netherlands. Both countries foolishly decided to reimburse its depositors, then sue Iceland to pay.

The story goes back to 2010 and I have commented many times on Iceland and Icesave and how Iceland was doing the right thing.

Here are a couple links on Icesave if you need to refresh your memory.


Iceland Wins in Court

Here is an image clip of page 36 of the court decision completely exonerating Iceland.

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The decision was delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 28 January 2013. Congratulations to Iceland.

EFTA

The EFTA is the European Free Trade Surveillance Authority.
The European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority performs the executive role of the European Commission in the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) which are part of the European Economic Area (EEA).



The authority is tasked with ensuring laws and regulations are properly enacted by members, challenging them before the EFTA Court if necessary. The Authority has its headquarters in Brussels (Belgium) and its working language is English. Enterprises and individuals can, however, address the Authority in any official EEA language.
I picked this story up from the Daily Kos article Icesave: Today Iceland Learns Whether It Gambled Right On Refusing A Repayment Deal With The British.

Not only did Iceland win, but the European Commission which intervened has to pay all costs and all the money spent by the British and Dutch is unrecoverable. Wow!

Congratulations to Iceland!

Here is a link to Iceland won the Icesave issue.  The article is in Icelandic, translation by Google.

Justice was served in the end, but it took a lot of trials and tribulations to get there. The Icelandic parliament voted  twice to make Icelandic citizens responsible. The matter only went to referendum in the first place when Iceland's President, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson insisted upon a referendum.

Voters rejected the first referendum by a 93 to 7 percent margin. Yet, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir vowed to make the referendum "obsolete".

For the amazing gall of the Icelandic prime minister in this regard, please see Iceland Rejects IceSave; Does No Mean No?

Once again, congratulations to Iceland (or rather Icelandic citizens, certainly not a Parliament that attempted to overturn a 93% no vote). 

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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