IceNews, 28 February 2010
The British government has requested further talks with Iceland’s negotiators over the Icesave issue. The British want to come to a deal that will stop next Saturday’s referendum on the December deal going ahead.
Following the unsuccessful talks which ended on Thursday with the British and Dutch, the Icelandic team intended to travel home on Friday but British authorities wanted them to stay. It was decided that a part of the team, including Lee Buchheit, would stay in London. Negotiators Gudmundur Arnason and Larus Blondal arrived in Iceland on Friday but returned to London again yesterday.
British and Icelandic representatives met yesterday and intend to continue their talks today.
According to Visir.is, the British are making a concerted last minute effort to stop the Icelandic public voting in Saturday’s referendum on a loan deal agreed by parliament in December. Senior civil servants and politicians in London fear the expected ‘No’ vote could prove a dangerous precedent to other countries in financial difficulties. They do not want the general public to be able to decide matters of national debt, Visir reports.
Dutch officials are not at this weekend’s meetings, as the Netherlands is currently being governed by a caretaker administration with little or no real power to negotiate international treaties.
If the Icelanders and British are able to hammer out a deal though, it is considered likely the Dutch would also accept it.
