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Iceland rejects plan to repay Icesave debts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8553979.stm
Page last updated at 14:34 GMT, Sunday, 7 March 2010
Timeline: Iceland rejects Icesave deal in vote
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6261DW20100307
Sun Mar 7, 2010 1:14pm EST
Here is a timeline of events in Iceland in the last year:
January 26, 2009 - Iceland's ruling coalition falls apart when Prime Minister Geir Haarde says he is resigning. Two days later Social Democrats are given a mandate to form a new government.
February 1 - Iceland names an interim center-left government which promises to rebuild the economy. Sigurdardottir of the Social Democratic Alliance is prime minister. The Social Democrats, the junior partner in the previous government, forms the caretaker administration with the Left-Greens.
April 25 - The caretaker government of the Social Democrats and Left-Greens wins renewed power in parliamentary elections.
June 6 - Iceland agrees to reimburse Britain and the Netherlands for compensating people in the two countries holding Icesave accounts at Landsbanki.
July 17 - Iceland applies to join the EU a day after parliament narrowly backs plans to begin talks on joining.
August 28 - Parliament approves "Icesave" bill, having added conditions such as linking payment to GDP development. However, Britain and the Netherlands refuse to approve the revisions made by the Icelandic parliament.
October 18 - The Iceland government agrees to a new deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands, paving the way for new aid from international lenders.
December 30 - Parliament approves the amended bill to repay more than $5 billion lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands.
January 5, 2010 - President Olafur Grimsson unexpectedly rejects the bill, forcing a referendum on the issue and threatening vital economic aid.
January 21 - Iceland will do its utmost to meet its obligations to Britain and the Netherlands and to ensure the Icesave affair does not harm international relations, Sigurdardottir writes in a Dutch newspaper.
February 25 - Further talks with Britain and the Netherlands on repaying the Icesave debt break down after the parties are unable to agree on revised payment terms.
March 3 - Iceland says it has made a last-ditch compensation offer to Britain and the Netherlands, ahead of the referendum which is expected to nullify the current deal.
-- Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson says in interviews that Iceland is waiting for British and Dutch replies to the offer, which it hoped to present as a better alternative and so avoid the referendum. March 5 - Iceland's economy grows with GDP increasing by 3.3 percent in the last three months of 2009 from the prior three months, its best performance since 2008. It is still down 7 percent from a year earlier.
-- Sigurdardottir says her government will not step down if it loses the Icesave referendum and says considerable progress has been made toward forcing a new deal with Britain and the Netherlands.
March 6 - Iceland overwhelmingly rejects a $5 billion deal to repay debts to Britain and the Netherlands in a referendum. Iceland now must go back to the negotiating table.
Sources: Reuters/www.iceland.org
Writing by David Cutler |
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