Iceland votes to apply for Europian Union Membership

July the 16th ,2009 ,The Icelandic Parliament has voted to apply for European Union membership.
33 votes were for membership, 28 were against,and 2 did not vote.
Iceland will submit an application formally in Brussels on 27 July.
The vice chairman of the Independence party ,Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir,did not vote .

Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir declared the vote on membership to the EU,historic.

Here below is a video of Asbyrgi , a national park in Iceland

Protest in Iceland against EU membership

The controlling parties in Iceland,the Left Green Movement and the Social Democratic Alliance,are putting to a vote at the Icelandic parliement,to join the Europian Union.
And people where today at the parliement protesting,and shouting at parliement building.
Not everybody is for the Europian Union.
Part of the Left Green Movement is not for it ,and now there are a lot of discussion in parliement.
Some in the oppositon parties are for joining the EU .
The vote will probably be tomorrow at 12:00 .

Some members of parliement came outside ,to talk to protesters

One of the protester who was shouting at the parliement building,using words ,like - Treason ,traitors and such - was asked by the parliement guard to go farther away from the building,wish he refused.

Hotel burns to the ground at Thingvellir in Iceland

The Hotel at Thingvellir ,the most sacred part of Iceland ,burned to the ground yesterday.
It was an old building ,made of timber.
Firefighters fought the fire ,but could not stop it.
The Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter came with firefighters from Reykjavik,to assist the local firefighter crew.
Here you can see a video from the fire ---- VIDEO

Civil war in Iceland ??

Bjorgulfur Gudmundsson and his son ,Bjorgulfur Thor Bjorgulfsson,have asked that half of their debts to Kaupthing Bank ,be written off and they do not have to pay half.
That would mean ,that they would not have to pay ,3 billion kronas.
Bjorgulfur Thor Bjorgulfsson is estimated to own now - 170 billion kronas.
In the meantime ,familys are offered ,getting their lones, on longer time period.
Representives of people and familys in debt in Iceland ,say ,that if they dont pay all their debt,then every promice from the goverment to the public,is void.
One ,represting Icelands stock holders,mr: Vilhjálmur Bjarnason, said ,that if they do not pay all
of their debts,that would mean a civil war in Iceland .


Since the banking crises started here in Iceland ,last october ,2008 - about 1000 Icelandic citizens have moved to Norway.

Photos : Top - Bjorgulfur Thor Bjorgulfsson
bottom : Vilhjalmur Bjarnarsson

Strange loans in Iceland

Still,there are information coming here in Iceland.
Employees at the top at Kaupthing Bank,got special loans ,to buy stock in the bank.
And the Kaupthing board of directors,decided ,that they would not have to pay fot the loan they got.
One of the employees ,was Kristjan Arason,husband to the vice chairman of the Independence party.
She ,Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir ,was last year ,the education minister in the ICelandic goverment.
Kristjan had a 890 millon krona loan ,a so called " bubble loan " ( kúlulán) .
Wich means that the sequrity on that loan to buy stock,is the stock itself.
23 employees of kaupthing ,got special service from the board of the Bank.
And do not have to pay the loan they got.

Meanwhile public is going bankrupt,and many moving from Iceland.
Many have to go to the family help service,once a week,to get food for their familys.

More corruption surfacing in Iceland ?

At Kaupthing Bank ,a loanbook from the bank,that one of the newspapers here in has ICeland has,shows ,that 22 of the senior employees,got loans to buy stock in the bank,in the amount of 23 billion kronas.
And at a bank board meeting ,it was decided that personal sequrities for these loans,should be dropped,and they should not have to pay the loans they got to buy the stock.
Those who got the loans ,are no longer working at the bank.

One of the loantakers,his wife was the education minister in the ICelandic goverment ,when the banking crisis hit last october ( 2008 )
To pay these debts,and the Icesave account in Europe - the ICelandic parliement is about to put into law,that Iceland will pay that debt.

And that means raising taxes on the public in Iceland.
Income tax,gas tax and so on.

New Icelandic Coast Guard airplane DASH 8q 300

Today , a new Icelandic Coast Guard plane landed for the first time in Iceland.
This is a DASH 8 q 300 - type,and with all the neccesary equipment that a coast guard plane should have.
Two coast guard helicopter came in formation with the new plane.
Then after landing there where speaches at Icelandic Coast GUard HQ.
Before this,the coast used for the last 32 years, a Fokker 27 .
So it was about ti More..me to get a new plane for the Icelandic coast guard.

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