BBC News
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Almost a quarter of voters in Iceland have signed a petition against a bill to repay money lost by foreigners when an Icelandic online bank collapsed.
The petition urged the president to veto the legislation and called for a referendum on the issue.
Parliament this week approved the bill to reimburse 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn/$5.5 billion US) lost by Dutch and British savers when the Icesave scheme failed in 2008.
Many taxpayers say they are being made to pay for the bank’s mistakes.
The compensation amounts to some 12,000 euros for each citizen on the island nation of 320,000…
…An original agreement negotiated with the British and Dutch governments was approved in August.
But subsequent amendments negotiated by the prime minister were rejected in both countries, forcing a fresh vote.
Under the new deal the money – which represents 40% of the country’s GDP – will be repaid gradually, staggered until 2024.
The entire article is at BBC News.
