Iceland’s reply to ESA
Today, minister of trade Arni Pall Arnason held a press conference to present Iceland’s answer to ESA. In the letter, the Icelandic Government emphasised its earlier position, ie that the EU deposit guarantee did not apply to the situation in Iceland in October 2008 because Iceland suffered a breakdown of its entire banking system. Consequently, Iceland had not other options but to treat deposits in Iceland and abroad differently. It also pointed out that the UK and the Dutch Governments had hampered economic revival in Iceland by its actions to delay the IMF programme.
The letter is quite long, over 30 pages. It remains to be seen what ESA will do but it seems that some of the Icelandic points are somewhat beside the point. ESA formulated precises complaints. Iceland’s answer offers more explanations than hard-nosed legal reasoning.
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