Ég gerði mér það að leik að setja saman drög að ávarpinu sem Steingrímur Joð þarf að flytja og koma að í alþjóðlegum fjölmiðlum á næstu dögum. Ekki hika við að koma með tillögur að úrbótum:
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Dear Wouter Bos and Alister Darling,
The Icelandic parliament has today rejected the agreements on the resolution of the Icesave dispute that our negotiation teams had put together and I had signed pending the approval of the parliament.
I want to make clear that this does not mean that we reject our responsibilities for the failure of the Icelandic banks and the consequences to British and Dutch depositors. On the contrary, I want to reassure you that the Icelandic government will fulfill its obligations according to EU and EEC law and guarantee the minimum amount stated in the respective directive. If there has been any doubt whether Icelanders are required by law to do so, we are certainly required to do so morally as the heads of our government had on numerous occasions reassured financial authorities, governments and even depositors themselves that the banks were backed by the government and – furthermore – painted an unrealistic picture of the health of the Icelandic banking sector.
Icelanders are people of their words. Any government minister at any time speaks on behalf of the nation, and therefore we will honor those commitments regardless of any legal ambiguities.
A thorough discussion in parliament committees, opinions from leading specialists and heated debates among the Icelandic public has revealed that the current agreement is unacceptable.
Our negotiation team made a mistake in agreeing to it before all the facts had been put straight, and for that I apologize.
First of all, the agreement puts more responsibilities on the Icelandic government than we are required by law or our officials have ever committed to in any way. Secondly, the burden it puts on the Icelandic nation more than it will be able to handle.
It is therefore in the interest of all parties involved to sit down again and renegotiate. The terms that need changing are:
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That the assets of Landsbanki will first serve the minimum guarantee of EUR 20,887 per depositor account BEFORE they are used to cover the further guarantees of GBP 50,000 and EUR 100,000 made by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands respectively at their own choice.
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That the order of affairs in the event of Iceland’s failure to meet the terms of the agreement will be clarified.
I propose a personal meeting between the three of us at the earliest possible opportunity to sort out the big picture, so that we can have an updated agreement before our parliament within a few days, and then start working towards rebuilding our nations’ relationships.
Yours truly,
Steingrimur J Sigfusson,
Minister of Finance
Iceland