1.
Unicameralism
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In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015
2.
Left-Green Movement
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The Left-Green Movement is a left-wing and green political party in Iceland. It is the second largest party in the Althingi, with 10 members of 63 in total, the party opposes Icelands involvement in NATO and also the U. S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The party rejects membership of the European Union and supports the Palestinian cause in the Middle East and it supports the mutual adaptation and integration of immigrants into Icelandic society as necessary. The Left-Green Movement is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance, the party chair is Katrín Jakobsdóttir, MP. The vice chair is Björn Valur Gíslason The secretary-general of the party is Björg Eva Erlendsdóttir, in the 1999 parliamentary elections the Left-Green Movement took 9. 1% of the vote and six seats in the Alþingi. It had five members in the 63-seat Icelandic parliament after the 2003 elections where it polled 8. 8% of the vote, after the 2007 elections the party had 9 seats in parliament, having received 14. 3% of the vote. 9% of the vote. The party, gained one seat in addition, when a non-party parliamentarian joined the party, since then, three members of the parliamentary group have left the party. One joined the centrist Progressive Party and two others are became non-partisans, after the elections of 2013, the party was in the opposition and had 7 seats in the parliament. Currently, after the elections of 2016, the party is in the opposition and has 10 seats in the parliament, since the elections in 2016, the Left-Green Movement has ten members of parliament. The Left-Green Movement official page The Left-Green Movement page at the Nordic Green Left Alliance website
3.
Independence Party (Iceland)
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The Independence Party is a centre-right political party in Iceland. Liberal conservative and Eurosceptic, it is the largest party in the Althing, the chairman of the party is Bjarni Benediktsson. The secretary of the party is Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir and it was formed in 1929 through a merger of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. This united the two parties advocating the dissolution of the Union of Denmark and Iceland, dissolution was achieved in 1944, from 1929, the party won the largest share of the vote in every election until the 2009 election, when it fell behind the Social Democratic Alliance. Until Benediktsson took the leadership after the 2009 defeat, every Independence Party leader has also held the office of Prime Minister, since 2017, Benediktsson is Prime Minister of Iceland. The Independence Party broadly encompasses all centre-right thought in Iceland, economically liberal and opposed to interventionism, the party is supported most strongly by fishermen and high-earners, particularly in Reykjavík. It supports Icelandic membership of NATO but opposes the idea of joining the European Union and it is a member of the International Democrat Union and it joined the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in November 2011, a centre-right eurosceptic European political party. The Independence Party was founded on 25 May 1929 through a merger of the Conservative Party and it readopted the name of the historical Independence Party, which had split between the Conservatives and Liberals in 1927. From its first election, in 1931, it was the largest party in Iceland, the Independence Party won the 2007 elections, increasing their seat tally in the Althing by 3. It formed a new government under Haarde with the Social Democratic Alliance. The party has been the sole major right-wing party in Iceland since its inception, as a result, the party is not as far to the right as most right-wing parties in Scandinavia, serving as a catch-all party. The party, like the British Conservatives, states a claim to be pragmatic, as opposed to ideological. For most of its period of dominance, the party has relied upon coalition government. The Independence Party has generally been economically liberal and advocated limited government intervention in the economy and it was originally committed to laissez-faire economics, but shifted its economic policies left-wards in the 1930s, accepting the creation of a welfare state. The party has historically been conservative on social issues than centre-right parties in Scandinavia. Most significant legislative advances in LGBT rights have happened while the IP was in government, the party was the only consistent advocate for the end of prohibition of beer, and provided three-quarters of voters in favour of legalisation, the ban was lifted in 1989. The partys skeptic position on EU membership was confirmed at its congress in March 2009. Its near-permanent position as Icelands largest party has guaranteed Icelands Atlanticist stance, the party is in favour of allowing Icelanders to participate in peacekeeping missions, including in Afghanistan
4.
Progressive Party (Iceland)
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The Progressive Party is a centre-right, populist and agrarian political party in Iceland. Current chairman of the party is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson who was elected on 2 October 2016 and his predecessor was Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who was elected on 18 January 2009 and was Prime Minister of Iceland from 23 May 2013 to 5 April 2016. It was founded in 1916 as a merger of two parties, the Farmers Party and the Independent Farmers. In 1956 the party almost agreed to a merger with the Social Democratic Party. Throughout Icelands history as a self-governing and independent nation, the Progressive Party has most often been the second largest political party in the country and it has often joined government coalitions with either the Independence Party on the centre-right, or with centre-left parties. The party was a partner to the Independence Party during the period 1995 to 2007. The 1974 parliamentary election led to a government of the Independence Party. The 1983 parliamentary election resulted in Progressive Party leader Steingrímur Hermannsson becoming Prime Minister in coalition with the Independence Party, however, in September 1988, a new government was formed by the Progressive Partys Steingrímur Hermannsson with the Social Democrats and Peoples Alliance. Following the 1991 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party was in opposition, in the 2003 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party received 17. 2% of the vote and 12 seats in the Althing. On 15 September 2004, Halldór Ásgrímsson of the Progressive Party took over as Prime Minister from Davíð Oddsson, Halldór Ásgrímsson announced his intention to resign on 5 June 2006 following the partys poor results in the 2006 municipal elections. The coalition remained allied with the Independence Party chairman, Geir H. Haarde, in the 2007 parliamentary election, the party dropped five seats to hold only seven seats, down from twelve. In January 2009, it decided to change its party line on joining the European Union from being opposed to being in favour of EU accession, the party later changed its policy to one of firm opposition to EU membership. In the wake of the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, the Progressive Party became more populist, under the new post-crisis leader- ship, the Progressive Party thus moved closer to populist parties in Europe. In the 2009 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party fared somewhat better, securing 14. 8% of the vote and it remained in opposition, however, with a centre-left coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement continuing to govern with an increased majority. In the 2013 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party reached second place nationally, nordic agrarian parties Liberalism Contributions to liberal theory Liberalism worldwide List of liberal parties Liberal democracy Liberalism and centrism in Iceland Progressive Party official site
5.
Social Democratic Alliance
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The Social Democratic Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Iceland. In the 2016 election it got 3 seats in the parliament, the parties then formally merged in May 2000 under the name The Alliance. The merger was an attempt to unify the entire Icelandic centre-left into one political party capable of countering the centre-right Independence Party. The Icelandic Movement – Living Country merged into the party in March 2009, in February 2013 the official name of the party was changed to The Alliance – Social Democratic Party of Iceland. The current chair of the party is Logi Már Einarsson, who was elected as vice-chairman in June 2016, oddný Guðbjörg Harðardóttir, was elected as chair of the party to succeed Árni Páll Árnason in June 2016 but resigned after the election results of 2016. The youth wing of the Social Democratic Alliance is Social Democratic Youth
6.
Pirate Party (Iceland)
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The Pirate Party is a political party in Iceland. The partys platform is based on politics and direct democracy. The party was cofounded on 24 November 2012 by Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the party successfully applied for the ballot list letter Þ in order to run in the 2013. In July 2016 the party requested and was issued the letter P for future elections, in their first electoral participation, at the 2013 parliamentary election, the Pirate Party won 5. 1% of the votes, just above the 5% threshold required to win representation in the Althing. The three members elected, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson and Jón Þór Ólafsson, were the first pirates elected to any national legislature in the world, following the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January 2015, the Pirate Party began a campaign to repeal Icelands blasphemy laws. The laws, which had introduced in 1940, were successfully repealed in early July 2015. The repeal, introduced by the Pirate Party, read, Freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy and it is fundamental to a free society that people should be able to express themselves without fear of punishment, whether from the authorities or from other people. During the vote on the repeal, the three Pirate Party members of the Althing stood and declared Je suis Charlie, in solidarity with the French satirical magazine. An MMR opinion poll published in January 2016 put their support at 37. 8%. In the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, polls in April 2016 showed the Pirate Party at 43%, in the October 29,2016 elections, the Pirate Party won 10 seats with 14, 5% of the votes in Parliament, up from 3 seats. The party has not officially taken a position in favour of or against Icelands accession to the European Union, should Iceland join the European Union, the country shall be a single constituency in elections to the European Parliament. Should Iceland join the European Union, Icelandic shall be one of its official languages and it is unacceptable that Iceland need to take up large part of European legislation through a business agreement without getting representatives or audience. On 4 July 2013, a bill was introduced in parliament that would, if passed, the proposer of the bill was Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson and it was co-sponsored by the other Pirate Party parliament members, Ögmundur Jónasson, Páll Valur Björnsson and Helgi Hjörvar. A vote was taken to determine whether the bill would be put on parliaments agenda, the elected representative is Halldór Auðar Svansson. Politics in Iceland, A beginners guide
7.
Elections in Iceland
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Elections in Iceland gives information on election and election results in Iceland. Iceland elects on a level a ceremonial head of state, the president -. The president is elected for a term by the people. The parliament has 63 members, elected for a term by proportional representation. Iceland has a multi-party system, with parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone. The most recent election was held on 29 October,2016, vote share changes are given compared to the 2009 election results, seat changes are given compared to the distribution immediately before the election
8.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2017
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Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 29 October 2016. They were due to be held on or before 27 April 2017, but following the 2016 Icelandic anti-government protests, of the 63 elected MPs,30 were female, giving Iceland the highest proportion of female MPs in Europe. A new coalition was formed on 10 January 2017, consisting of the Independence Party, mass protests calling on the Prime Minister to quit followed. Although Sigmundur Davíð had stated he had no intention of resigning, however, it was later stated by the Prime Ministers office that he had only taken a temporary leave of absence from his duties. The Progressive Partys deputy leader, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, became acting Prime Minister the same day, the President, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, then said he would speak to both coalition parties, Progressive Party and Independence Party, before considering whether to call new elections. Opposition parties continued to press for new elections, on 6 April, Sigurður announced, We expect to have elections this autumn. On 11 August, Bjarni Benediktsson met with opposition parties and later announced that elections would be held on 29 October 2016, the 63 members of the Althing were elected using closed list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies of 8 to 13 seats. Of the 63 seats,54 were elected using constituency results, the final deadline for parties to apply for participation in the parliamentary election was 14 October 2016. The Pirate Party announced on 16 October 2016 that they would not participate in negotiations to form a coalition government with either the Progressive Party or the Independence Party. The party did send letters to Reform, Bright Future, Social Democratic Alliance and this was the lowest turnout in Icelands history. The leader of the Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson, expressed preference for a three-party coalition, the leader of Reform ruled out a right-leaning three-party coalition with the Independence Party and the Progressives. Reform have not ruled out supporting the centre-left bloc, on 2 November, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson gave the mandate to Bjarni to form a majority government, on 17 November, the mandate to form a majority government was in turn given to the leader of the Left-Greens, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. She instigated talks with Reform, Bright Future, the Pirates, and Social Democrats, on 24 November, the coalition talks fell through and Katrín formally renounced the Presidential mandate to form a government. On 2 December, the mandate to form a majority government was given to the leader of the Pirate Party, Birgitta Jónsdóttir. The Pirates were unable to form a government and the President chose not to give a new mandate to form a government, on 2 January 2017, the Independence Party started official talks about a possible coalition deal with the Reform Party and Bright Future. Morgunblaðið also reported that the Left-Green Movement and the Progressive Party had also discussed possible coalition deals with the Independence Party, a new coalition was formed on 10 January 2017 between Independence Party, Reform Party and the Bright Future with Bjarni Benediktsson becoming Prime Minister on 11 January 2017
9.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
10.
Politics of Iceland
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Althingi, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. It is arguably the worlds oldest assembly democracy, elected to a four-year term, the president has limited powers and is poised in a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat and figurehead. The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions, the head of government is the prime minister, who, together with the cabinet, takes care of the executive part of government. Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in time does the president exercise this power. This has never happened since the republic was founded in 1944, the regent had, for all practical purposes, the position of a president, and Sveinn in fact became the countrys first president in 1944. The president is elected every four years, the cabinet is elected every four years, the modern parliament, called Althing or Alþingi, was founded in 1845 as an advisory body to the Danish king. It was widely seen as a reestablishment of the founded in 930 in the Commonwealth period. The Althing is composed of 63 members, elected every 4 years unless it is dissolved sooner, suffrage for presidential and parliamentary elections is 18 years of age and is universal. Members of the Althing are elected on the basis of representation from six constituencies. Until 1991, membership of the Althing was divided between a lower and upper house but this was changed to a unicameral system. Ólafur Ragnar successfully has used his largely ceremonial office to promote Icelandic trade abroad, the next presidential elections will be held in June 2020. The last parliamentary elections took place on April 27,2013, the ruling government was the first majority left-wing government. The ruling coalition parties, the Social Democrats and the Left-Green Movement lost 18 seats in Alþingi, the Progressive party was the largest party after the election and formed a coalition with the Independence Party. A total of 193,792 votes were cast constituting 81. 4% of the 237,957 electorate, in losing four seats in the April 1995 parliamentary elections, the IP and SDP mustered a simple majority in the 63-seat Althing. However, Prime Minister and IP leader Davíð Oddsson chose the resurgent Progressive Party as a more conservative partner to form a stronger and more stable majority with 40 seats. Splintered by factionalism over the economy and Icelands role in the European Union, the beginning of the millennium saw a merger of all the left parties to form the Social Democratic Alliance. Some members chose to join another new left party instead, the Left-Green Movement, after the PPs loss in the 2007 elections its longstanding alliance with the IP ended despite still being able to form a majority
11.
Constitution of Iceland
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The Constitution of Iceland is the supreme law of Iceland. It is composed of 80 articles in seven sections, and within it the leadership arrangement of the country is determined, the current constitution was first instituted on June 17,1944, since then, it has been amended seven times. In the 19th century, the Icelandic independence movement was gaining momentum, while nationalism, in June 1849, the king of Denmark was forced to meet the demands of the liberals and the nationalists, and agree to a constitution for Denmark and thus also with Iceland. This constitution repealed the absolute monarchy and established a monarchy in which power over most important issues was handed over to a parliament elected by the people. This change was not well-received with Icelanders, as it in reality translated to reduced autonomy for Iceland, before 1849, Icelanders had officially ruled themselves as they happened to see fit in domestic matters. But now those matters were falling under the control of parliaments over which Icelanders had no influence, but when said region was annexed by Prussia in 1867, new conditions were created and stöðulögin were passed 1871, which determined the standing of Iceland in relation to the Danish state. In 1874, on the anniversary of the settlement in Iceland, Christian IX became king of Denmark. This opportunity was used to give Iceland its own separate constitution and this constitution was called Stjórnarskrá um hin sérstaklegu málefni Íslands, and was the basis of Icelands current constitution. With the sambandslögunum of 1918, Iceland became a sovereign state and this constitution was called Stjórnarskrá konungsríkisins Íslands. In early 1944 the Althing approved the cancellation of the sambandslögin and agreed to a new constitution, an election was run in May of the same year and had a turnout of 98%. 97% voted to break off the current relationship law with Denmark, on June 17,1944 the Althing met at Þingvellir, where the constitution was ratified and the republic established. After the ratification of the constitution, it has been amended seven times in total, mostly due to changes in the structure of the constituencies of Iceland, in 1991 the organization of Althing changed so that it now worked in one house rather than two as previously before. Extensive modifications were made in 1995 when the human rights sections of the constitution were reviewed, section I states that Iceland is a Republic with a parliamentary government, and the Althing and the president jointly exercise legislative power and judges exercise judicial power. Section II contains articles 3 through 30, and states where the Presidential Seat is, meetings with the Althingi, and presidential rights. Section III contains articles 31–34, and defines term limits for Althingi members, section IV contains articles 35-58, and defines the major issues concerning the activity of the parliament and determines the rights and power of the MPs. The section says that nobody is allowed to approve a bill before three readings in the Althing, and Althing meetings shall take place in public unless approved by the Parliament. The majority of MPs must be present to deal with an issue, many other parliamentary procedural rules are legally defined according to the 58th article. Section V contains articles 59-61, and describes the regulation of judiciary and it says that the judiciary may be established by law, that the judiciary will settle disputes around competence of authorities, and that the judiciary shall be guided solely by law
12.
President of Iceland
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The President of Iceland is Icelands elected head of state. The incumbent is Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who is now in his first term as President, the President is elected to a four-year term by popular vote, is not term-limited, and has limited powers. The presidential residence is situated in Bessastaðir in Garðabær, near the capital city Reykjavík, when Iceland became a republic in 1944 by the passing of a new constitution the position of King of Iceland was simply replaced by President of Iceland. A transitional provision of the new constitution stipulated that the first President be elected by the Parliament. Etymology of the word Forseti from Old Norse is the one and it is the name of one of Æsir gods, i. e. the one of justice. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians, the President appoints ministers to the Cabinet of Iceland, determines their number and division of assignments. Ministers are not able to resign and must be discharged by the President, the ministers are delegated the Presidents executive powers and are solely responsible for their actions. In the aftermath of elections, the President has the role to designate a party leader to formally start negotiations to form a government. The President and the Cabinet meet in the State Council, the Cabinet must inform the President of important matters of the state and drafted bills. During meetings the Cabinet may also suggest convening, adjourning or dissolving the Parliament, the President can decide that the prosecution for an offense be discontinued and can also grants pardon and amnesty. Article 2 of the states that the President and the Parliament jointly exercise the legislative power. The President signs bills passed by the Parliament into law and can not to sign them. Bills vetoed by the President do take effect immediately, should the Parliament not withdraw them, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is the only President to have vetoed legislation from the Parliament, having done so on three occasions. This power was intended to be used only in extremely extenuating circumstances. The President has the power to submit bills and resolutions to the Parliament which it must take under consideration, should the Parliament not be in session the President can issue provisional laws which must conform with the constitution. Provisional laws become void if the Parliament does not confirmed them when it convenes, no President has ever submitted bills nor resolutions, nor issued provisional laws. Article 30 of the states that the President can grant exceptions from laws. No President has ever exercised this authority, the President convenes the Parliament after general elections and dissolves it
13.
Prime Minister of Iceland
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The Prime Minister of Iceland is Icelands head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the President and exercises executive authority along with the subject to parliamentary support. The meetings shall be presided over by the Minister called upon by the President of the Republic to do so, the Prime Ministers office is located in Stjórnarráðið, Reykjavik where their secretariat is based and where cabinet meetings are held. The Prime Minister has a residence, Þingvallabær in Þingvellir. The Prime Minister also has a Reception House at Tjarnargata, Reykjavik which was the Prime Ministerial residence until 1943
14.
Cabinet of Iceland
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The Cabinet of Iceland is the collective decision-making body of the government of Iceland, composed of the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers. A constitutional amendment, confirmed on 3 October 1903, stated that the Minister for Iceland had to be a resident of Reykjavík and be able to read and write Icelandic. The Minister for Iceland therefore belonged to both the Danish Cabinet and the newly created Icelandic Cabinet but was only answerable to the Icelandic Parliament, executive power was thus transferred to Iceland with the creation of the Icelandic Cabinet. In the beginning, there were no cabinet ministers nor ministries that formed the Cabinet, the offices were called first, second and third office. The first office was responsible for court, school and church affairs, the second for employment, transport and postal affairs and the third for finance. The Minister for Iceland was the most supreme officeholder in the Cabinet, but each office was headed by an Office Manager and a National Secretary supervised the three managers. The position of Minister for Iceland in the Danish and Icelandic cabinet was discontinued 30 November 1918 as the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union was signed 1 December 1918 by Denmark and Iceland. The agreement made Iceland a sovereign state — the Kingdom of Iceland — joined with Denmark in a union with the Danish king as the head of state of both kingdoms. The Minister for Iceland at the time of the signing of the agreement, Jón Magnússon, the current cabinet, consists of the following ministers, List of cabinets of Iceland Official website Official website
15.
Supreme Court of Iceland
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The Supreme Court of Iceland is the final court of appeal in the judiciary of Iceland. It is also the oldest court of law in Iceland and the higher of the two Icelandic court branches, the other being the District Courts of Iceland. Notwithstanding the fact that the Court is not mentioned by name in the Constitution of Iceland but only its justices, it is validated in the Courts Act No. The Supreme Court of Iceland is located at the Dómhúsið at Arnarhóll in Reykjavík, a building that was built for that purpose. The current President of the Court is Markús Sigurbjörnsson, the Court was founded under the Supreme Court Act No. 22/1919 and held its first session on 16 February 1920, previously, the Landsyfirréttur, or National High Court of Iceland, had been the highest domestic court, but a line of appeal had been available to the Supreme Court of Denmark in Copenhagen. The establishment of the Supreme Court moved the word in Icelandic cases home to Iceland. The first justices of the Supreme Court were Kristján Jónsson, Halldór Daníelsson, Eggert Briem, Lárus H. Bjarnason and Páll Einarsson. The first three men had been the judges of the old National High Court, which had operated throughout the 19th century but was abolished with the founding of the Supreme Court of Iceland in 1920, the Supreme Court justices elect a President and a Vice-President. He is responsible for the operation and finances of the Court, for especially important cases, the President of the Court may decide that the bench be constituted by seven justices. When a case is heard by five or seven justices, these shall usually be the most senior justices on the Court, the main rule is that cases are presented orally before the Supreme Court, and the court sessions are generally open to the public. The President of the Supreme Court presides over the session or, in his absence, if neither of them is hearing the case, the most senior justice in session will preside. As soon as a case presentation is finished, the justices retire for a closed meeting to discuss. One justice will be responsible for introducing the matter and proposing a solution of the case. Finally, a complete judgement will be prepared, and the justices will sign a copy which is filed in the Book of Opinions of the Court. For cases where members of the Cabinet are suspected of criminal behavior, the Landsdómur, after the transfer of power from Denmark, the Court was first housed in the Old Penitentiary Building on Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík. In 1949 it moved to the court building on Lindargata. 1993 saw a competition to design a new home for the Court, which was won by Margrét Harðardóttir and Steve Christer of Studio Grandi, Reykjavík
16.
Constituencies of Iceland
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Iceland is divided into 6 constituencies for the purpose of selecting representatives to parliament. The new division comprises three countryside constituencies and three city constituencies and this has occurred, and as of the elections in 2007, one seat was transferred from the Northwest constituency to the Southwest one. Administrative divisions of Iceland Geography of Iceland Municipalities of Iceland Regions of Iceland Media related to Constituencies of Iceland at Wikimedia Commons Article on Alþingi website
17.
Icelandic presidential election, 2004
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A presidential election was held in Iceland on Saturday,26 June 2004. Traditionally, Icelandic presidential elections in which the incumbent president indicates a wish to obtain a new mandate are uncontested. The current president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, was first elected in 1996 with 41. 4% of the vote, in 2000 he was re-elected without opposition. By tradition, the presidency is an almost entirely powerless office, as the presidents almost never use the granted to them by the constitution. Ólafur Ragnar, however, has expressed a wish to have a discussion on the role of the head of state. Unprecedentedly in the history of the Icelandic Republic, on 2 June 2004 Ólafur Ragnar vetoed a media ownership law passed by the Althing
18.
Icelandic presidential election, 2012
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Presidential elections were held in Iceland on 30 June 2012. There were six candidates, but the election became a contest between the incumbent President, and the journalist Thóra Arnórsdóttir, who wanted to return the presidency to a ceremonial role. Many significant matters that are likely to lead to conflict and confrontations are going to be on the agenda in the coming years, Thóra Arnórsdóttir, a journalist and news presenter. She announced her candidacy on 4 April and received the necessary 1,500 signatures in one weekend, others, Ari Trausti Gudmundsson, a writer, geophysicist and formerly of the Communist Party of Iceland, but now an independent. Dr. Herdís Thorgeirsdóttir, a lawyer and professor of law and human rights at Bifröst University. She called a meeting that day and said her campaign would be an experiment on democracy, whether it was possible to run without the backing of powerful financial actors. She is the President of the European Women Women Lawyers Association, Andrea Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir, former chairwoman of Hagsmunasamtök heimilanna, a non-governmental organisation founded in the wake of the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis. A vocal critic of government and financial institutions, she announced her candidacy on 1 May. She supports the minimum wage of 193,000 krona, hannes Bjarnason, a farmer who lived in Norway for 14 years. He seeks to enhance the place of morality in the public debate, two other candidates declared their intent to stand in the election, but later dropped out, Jón Lárusson, a police inspector charged with investigating tax fraud since the economic crisis. He claims to be apolitical and has opposed membership of the EU, Ástþór Magnússon, previously a candidate in the 2004 election, a businessman and pacifist, who announced his candidacy on 3 March 2012. He also accused the Icelandic media of giving Thóra preferential treatment, Ólafur also claimed to be the best person to steer Iceland through financial crisis. Thóra told the Reykjavik Grapevine that Iceland needs new leadership, I think we have all felt a strong need for a change in this country, has a great power of influence. An opinion poll published on 21 May by the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland showed Thóra leading with 46. 2%, with Ólafur on 37. 8%. However, after she suspended her campaign as she was due to give birth, an average of three poll prior to the election indicated Ólafur leading with 45% and Thóra in second place with 37. 7% ahead of four other candidates. Voting centres were open from 9AM to 10PM, after having voted, Thóra said DV, You see this glorious day, I cant be anything but optimistic. The Gallup poll gives an indication of the outcome, but we will just count the votes. To have the possibility to topple the current president is a victory in itself, the same day Ólafur wrote in Morgunbladid, Iceland is now at a crossroads
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Icelandic parliamentary election, 2007
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Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 12 May 2007. The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Althing, winning 25 of the 63 seats, there are 6 constituencies in Iceland. In that case a constituency seat shall travel from the constituency with the lowest figure to the one with the highest figure, however, the total number of seats must never become less than six in any constituency. The box below display the number of seats in each constituency at the 2007 parliamentary election. The available constituency seats are first distributed to each party according to the DHondt method, as a restriction on the possibility of re-ranking candidates, it is however only possible to alter the first several candidates on the list. As mentioned above, crossed out names will always be allocated a 0.00 value, the accumulated total score of the candidates voting fractions, will be used in determining which candidates receive the seats won by their party. The first leveling seat will go to the party with the highest ratio of votes per seat, the same calculation process is then repeated, until all 9 leveling seats have been allocated to specific parties. It should be noted that a partys votes per seat ratio will change during this calculation process, the second and final step is for each party being granted a leveling seat to pin point, across all constituencies, which of its runner-up candidates should then win this additional seat. The above described method is used for apportionment of all the party allocated leveling seats, the then governing parties won a razor-thin majority,32 seats against the oppositions 31. This was caused by considerable losses for the Progressive Party, which had the worst election in its more than 90-year history. 3% of the votes. After five days of speculation, it was decided on 17 May that the government would resign, haarde formally resigned on 18 May on behalf of his outgoing government. Simultaneously, he was assigned by the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the coalition meetings between the Independence Party and the Alliance were held in Reykjavík and at Þingvellir, where Alþingi was established in the year of 930. On 22 May the two reached an agreement, and the new government took over on 24 May. Möller, Minister of Transportation Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, Minister of Environment The Government enjoyed a vast majority on Alþingi, in the governments manifesto it is stated that it would focus on children, the elderly and the environment. The government aimed to lower taxes and raise benefits and invest heavily in education and transportation, the Social Democratic Alliance was more environmentalist and pro-EU and opposed the war in Iraq and Icelands participation in the Coalition of the Willing. A commission, though, to weigh the pros and cons of European Union membership was set up, on 23 May the chairman of the Progressive Party, Jón Sigurðsson, the outgoing Minister of Industries and Commerce, announced his resignation, due to poor results in the election. The vice chairman, Guðni Ágústsson, the outgoing Minister of Agriculture, took over the post
20.
Icelandic parliamentary election, 2009
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A parliamentary election was held in Iceland on 25 April 2009 following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Progressive Party also made gains, and the new Citizens Movement, formed after the January 2009 protests, gained four seats. The big loser was the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009, it lost a third of its support, there had been weekly protests in front of the Althing since the collapse of Icelands three commercial banks in October 2008. These protests intensified with the return of the Althing from Christmas recess on 20 January 2009, three days later, Prime Minister Geir Haarde of the Independence Party announced that he was withdrawing from politics for health reasons, and promised early elections for 9 May. After consultations with all the parties represented in the Althing. This proved to be a minority coalition with the Left-Green Movement, with the support of the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party, former Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Prime Minister. The date of the elections was one of the agreements between the coalition partners, the Social Democrats preferred 9 May, while the Left-Greens wanted elections in early April, the intermediate position of the Progressive Party,25 April, was adopted. The three parties also agree to convene an assembly to discuss changes to the Constitution. There was no agreement on the question of a referendum on prospective EU membership. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was elected party chairman on 18 January 2009, Independence Party chairman Geir Haarde announced his retirement from politics on 23 January 2009, revealing that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer which required urgent treatment. He was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson at the convention on 29 March 2009. The party also proposed to call for two referendums on the EU – one on starting entry talks, and another on membership after negotiations are over. Social Democrat leader Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir had also been unwell since September 2008 with a brain tumour which had kept her out of the public eye for much of the financial crisis. She was elected, as expected, with a majority of 97% of the vote at the party congress of 27–29 March 2009. Two new parties were formed in the aftermath of the January protests, the Citizens Movement, both contested all six constituencies in the 2009 elections. A third new party, L-List of Sovereignty Supporters, withdrew its candidacy on 3 April, the Icelandic Movement – Living Land, which had unsuccessfully contested the 2007 election on a green platform, merged into the Social Democratic Alliance at the March 2009 party congress. Just a week before the election, the Independence Party announced that its party committee on Europe had decided to call for steps to adopt the euro as Icelands currency. Shortly before the election, Johanna Sigurðardóttir stated that her priority, if returned to government, would be EU membership, there are 6 constituencies in Iceland
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Icelandic parliamentary election, 2013
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An Icelandic parliamentary election was held on 27 April 2013. Fifteen parties contested the election in Iceland, compared to just seven in the previous election, the election was won by the two centre-right opposition parties, the Independence Party and Progressive Party, who subsequently formed a coalition government. The parties are eurosceptic, and their win brought to a partially completed negotiations with the European Union regarding Icelandic membership. The previous elections in 2009 were won by the Social Democratic Alliance — the first time that the Independence Party was not the largest party in the Althing, the Social Democratic Alliance was able to form a coalition with the Left-Green Movement. As a result of this, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first female minister of Iceland. Five parties were elected at the election, held in April 2009. Since then, the representation for one of these, Citizens Movement, first mostly moved to The Movement and then, in March 2012. In January 2012, the new party Solidarity was founded by an incumbent MP, Lilja Mósesdóttir, another new party, Bright Future, was formed in February 2012 with the involvement of two MPs from, respectively, the Progressive Party and Social Democratic Alliance. One MP originally elected for Citizens Movement, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, also participated in the establishment of a new party in 2012, two euroskeptic Left-Green Movement MPs, Jón Bjarnason and Atli Gíslason, also decided to defect and form the new Rainbow Movement in March 2013. The box below shows the distribution of seats in the incumbent parliament on 28 March 2013, in that case a constituency seat will be reassigned from the constituency with the lowest number to the one with the highest, until the rule is met. However, the number of seats may never fall to less than six in any constituency. The box below shows the number of seats available in each constituency at the 2013 parliamentary election, the available constituency seats are first distributed to each party according to the DHondt method, so that proportional representation is ensured within each of the constituencies. As a restriction on the possibility of re-ranking candidates, it is only possible to alter the first several candidates on the list. As mentioned above, crossed out names will always be allocated a 0.00 value, the accumulated total score of the candidates voting fractions, will be used in determining which candidates receive the seats won by their party. The first leveling seat will go to the party with the highest ratio of votes per seat, the same calculation process is then repeated, until all 9 leveling seats have been allocated to specific parties. It should be noted that a partys votes per seat ratio will change during this calculation process, the second and final step is for each party being granted a leveling seat to pin point, across all constituencies, which of its runner-up candidates should then win this additional seat. The above described method is used for apportionment of all the party allocated leveling seats, the final deadline for parties to apply for participation in the parliamentary election was 9 April 2013. To be approved for a list letter to participate in the election, Dawn Iceland Democratic Party *A new party split from Dawn, founded 16 February 2013
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Icelandic debt repayment referendum, 2010
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The Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, also known as the Icesave referendum, was held in Iceland on 6 March 2010. The referendum was held under article 26 of the Constitution of Iceland after President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson refused to counter-sign the corresponding Act of Parliament into law on 5 January 2010, the proposal was resoundingly defeated, with 98% voting against and less than 2% in favor. The referendum was the first to be held in Iceland since 1944, the Althing approved a motion on 8 January 2010 which called for the referendum to be held by 6 March at the latest. The motion passed by 49–0 with 14 abstentions, the date of the referendum was later set for 6 March. The liabilities of the Depositors and Investors Guarantee Fund arise from the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, which saw Icelands three main commercial banks collapse within the space of a week. One of those banks, Landsbanki, had taken retail deposits from more than 400,000 British and Dutch customers through its branches in London and Amsterdam, through a product known as Icesave. This led to a dispute, and the unprecedented freezing of Landsbanki assets in the United Kingdom through the Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008. An outline agreement was reached on 16 November 2008, after mediation by France, Iceland finally reached bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on 5 June 2009. The liabilities of the Depositors and Investors Guarantee Fund were £2.35 billion in the UK, on 28 August 2009, the Althing voted 34–15 to approve a bill to regulate the repayments. Initially opposed in June, the bill was passed after amendments were added which set a ceiling on the repayment based on the gross domestic product. Under the measure, up to 4% of Icelands GDP growth would be paid to Britain from 2017–2023 while the Netherlands would receive up to 2% of Icelands GDP growth for the same period. Opponents of the bill argued that Icelanders, already reeling from the crisis, however, the government argued that if the bill failed to pass, the UK and the Netherlands might retaliate by blocking disbursements from the IMF. Revised loan agreements negotiations, including the cap on repayments, were concluded on 19 October 2009, a second Icesave bill was passed on 30 December by 33–30. The bill was presented to President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson at a meeting of the government the next morning. Grímsson refused to sign the bill immediately, pointing out that it was less than 24 hours since it had passed by the Althing. Article 26 of the Constitution of Iceland states that passed by the Althing must be counter-signed by the President within fourteen days or face a national referendum. The President had previously scheduled a meeting for 2 January 2010 with campaigners from the Indefence movement, at the meeting Indefence presented a petition bearing 56,089 signatures urging Grímsson not to sign the bill. By 4 January, the number of signatories had risen to 62,000, Grímsson announced his decision not to sign the bill at a press conference in his official residence on the morning of 5 January 2010
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Administrative divisions of Iceland
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This article shows the administrative divisions of Iceland. Until 2003, the constituencies for the parliament elections were the same as the regions, the imbalance between districts has been reduced by the new system, but still exists. There are eight regions which are used for statistical purposes. They also govern zoning and can take on additional functions if they have the budget for it. The autonomy of municipalities over their own matters is guaranteed by the constitution of Iceland, historically, Iceland was divided into 23 counties. Currently, Iceland is split up amongst 24 sheriffs that represent government in various capacities, the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs Offices greatly resemble the historical county divisions. Amongst their duties are local police tax collection, declaring bankruptcy, historically, Iceland was divided into farthings that were named after the cardinal directions. These were administrative divisions established in 965 for the purpose of organising regional assemblies called farthing assemblies, each farthing contained three local assemblies except the Norðlendingafjórðungur which had four. List of cities and towns in Iceland ISO 3166-2 codes of Iceland FIPS region codes of Iceland NUTS of Iceland Subdivisions of the Nordic countries
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Regions of Iceland
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The regions of Iceland are mainly used for statistical purposes. The district court jurisdictions also follow these divisions, the postal code system follows the regions as well, with a few exceptions. Prior to 2003, the regions were used as overall constituencies in certain parliamentary elections. Excluding its usage in collecting statistics, particularly census data. Other major changes have also included, such as the redistribution of over twenty subdivisions. These regions are not defined by law and have no standing or administrative function. The countrys healthcare program is divided into seven districts and these regions mostly correspond to those detailed below, although a few updates have yet to be fully implemented. For example, settlements in the Norðurland have suffered minor effects from the merger of the Northwest and Northeast into a single group, farthings of Iceland Municipalities of Iceland Constituencies of Iceland Subdivisions of the Nordic countries
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Municipalities of Iceland
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They also govern zoning and can voluntarily take on additional functions if they have the budget for it. The autonomy of municipalities over their own matters is guaranteed by the constitution of Iceland, when urbanization began in Iceland during the 18th and 19th century, several independent townships were created. The role of municipalities was further formalized during the 20th century, the trend in recent years has been to transfer more functions and power from the state to the municipalities. This has called for larger municipalities, the government encourages municipalities to merge but has taken a different approach to the issue than governments in other Nordic countries where forced amalgamation is regularly carried out. Municipalities negotiate possible mergers between themselves and the merger has to be agreed upon by the people of each municipality in a referendum, a similar approach is used by the Faroese government. Municipalities with fewer than 50 people may be merged with others by force though, the number of municipalities peaked in the mid-20th century. There were 229 of them in 1950, in 1995 their number had reduced to 170. In the year 2000 the number of municipalities in Iceland was 124, the municipalities are governed by municipal councils which are directly elected every four years. Municipal elections were last held on 29 May 2010, the sizes of these councils vary from five members in the smallest municipalities to fifteen in the largest one. Most municipalities except for the small ones hire an executive manager who may or may not be a member of the municipal council. These managers are usually referred to as mayors in the urban municipalities. It is common for these executive managers to be professionally hired, List of cities and towns in Iceland Constituencies of Iceland List of the most populated municipalities in the Nordic countries Maps of the municipalities CityMayors article
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Foreign relations of Iceland
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Icelands closest relations are with Norway and other Nordic states, Canada and the United States. Iceland hosted the historic 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavík, which set the stage for the end of the Cold War, Icelands principal historical international disputes involved disagreements over fishing rights. Disagreements with Norway and Russia over fishing rights in the Barents Sea were successfully resolved in 2000 and that year, Iceland established a separate commission – along with Norway, Greenland and the Faroe Islands – for the conservation, management, and study of marine mammals. Since then, Iceland has resumed whaling for scientific purpose and has rejoined the IWC, the Icelandic Fisheries Ministry issued a permit to hunt 39 whales for commercial purposes on 17 October 2006. 25 states delivered a diplomatic protest to the Icelandic government on 1 November concerning resumed commercial whaling. The protest was led by the United Kingdom and supported by such as Finland. Iceland was the first country to recognize the independence of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia. Similarly, it was the first country to recognize Montenegros independence from its union with Serbia. Iceland was also the first country to recognize Croatia, having done so on 19 December 1991, significantly, Iceland was also the first Western state to recognise Palestine when it did so in 2011. Iceland also is the greatest Nordic contributor per capita to NATO-led troops in Bosnia and Kosovo, to the police in Bosnia and to Bosniab/Kosovan reconstruction, resettlement and relief efforts. Negotiations continue between the four countries in the hope of making a joint proposal to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by May 2009. Following the collapse of Icesave sparking the 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis, the U. K. and they then sought repayment from Iceland, which held a referendum on the issue in 2010 and 2011, both of which failed. The two governments said they would take the issue to European courts to seek redress they alleged is owed to them. In January 2013 the EFTA court cleared Iceland of all charges, Iceland has had a close relationship with the European Union throughout its development, but has remained outside. The EU is Icelands most important trading partner with a trade surplus in 2008/9 in terms of goods, services. Iceland also participates in the Schengen Area and has non-voting representation in some EU agencies, however, after Icelands financial crash in 2008, it has sought membership of the EU and the euro. Iceland applied on 16 July 2009 and negotiations formally began 17 June 2011, after an agreement is concluded, the accession treaty must be ratified by every EU state and be subject to a national referendum in Iceland. Since the application was submitted, popular support has declined and contentious issues around Icelandic fisheries may derail negotiations, however the Icelandic government is confident an agreement can be reached based on the flexibility shown by the EU in its previous negotiations with Norway
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Diplomatic mission
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In practice, a diplomatic mission usually denotes the resident mission, namely the office of a countrys diplomatic representatives in the capital city of another country. As well as being a mission to the country in which it is situated. There are thus resident and non-resident embassies, a permanent diplomatic mission is typically known as an Embassy, and the head of the mission is known as an Ambassador, or High Commissioner. Therefore, the Embassy operates in the Chancery, European Union missions abroad are known as EU delegations. Some countries have more particular naming for their missions and staff, under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyas missions used the name peoples bureau and the head of the mission was a secretary. Missions between Commonwealth countries are known as commissions and their heads are High Commissioners. This is because Ambassadors are exchanged between foreign countries, but since the beginning of the Commonwealth, member countries have maintained that they are not foreign to one another. An ambassador represents one head of state to another and a letters of credence are addressed by one head of state to another. Until India became a republic on 26 January 1950, all members of the Commonwealth had the head of state. In the past a diplomatic mission headed by an official was known as a legation. Since the ranks of envoy and minister resident are effectively obsolete, a consulate is similar to, but not the same as a diplomatic office, but with focus on dealing with individual persons and businesses, as defined by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. A consulate or consulate general is generally a representative of the embassy in locales outside of the capital city. For instance, the United Kingdom has its Embassy of the United Kingdom in Washington, D. C. but also maintains seven consulates-general, the person in charge of a consulate or consulate-general is known as a consul or consul-general, respectively. Similar services may also be provided at the embassy in what is called a consular section. In cases of dispute, it is common for a country to recall its head of mission as a sign of its displeasure, a chargé daffaires ad interim also heads the mission during the interim between the end of one chief of missions term and the beginning of another. Contrary to popular belief, most diplomatic missions do not enjoy full extraterritorial status, rather, the premises of diplomatic missions usually remain under the jurisdiction of the host state while being afforded special privileges by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomats themselves still retain full diplomatic immunity, and the host country may not enter the premises of the mission without permission of the represented country, international rules designate an attack on an embassy as an attack on the country it represents. The term extraterritoriality is often applied to missions, but normally only in this broader sense
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Accession of Iceland to the European Union
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Accession of Iceland to the European Union is a contentious political issue in Iceland. Iceland applied to join the European Union on 16 July 2009, however, on 13 September 2013 the Government of Iceland dissolved its accession team and suspended its application to join the EU. If negotiations were to resume, Iceland would face contentious issues on fisheries which could derail a agreement. If an agreement were to be concluded, the treaty would be subject to a national referendum in Iceland. In 2017, Icelands newly elected government announced that it would hold a vote in parliament on whether to hold a referendum on resuming EU membership negotiations. Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Association, a grouping of four non-EU European countries, through the EEA, Iceland participates with a non-voting status in certain EU agencies and programmes, including enterprise, environment, education and research programs. Iceland also contributes funds to social and economic cohesion in the EU/EEA, Iceland also frequently consults the EU on foreign affairs and frequently aligns itself to EU foreign policy. Iceland also participates in EU civilian peacekeeping missions, Iceland is a member of the Nordic Passport Union and the Schengen Area, which now is under EU law, as a non-voting participant. Icelands participation in the Schengen Area allows free movement of people between Iceland and the rest of the Schengen Area, several thousand Icelanders travel to and study or work in the EU. A large majority of foreigners in Iceland come from the EU, Iceland is also associated with the Dublin Convention on justice and home affairs cooperation. Iceland also has links to several EU member states through its membership of the Nordic Council, Economic relations between Iceland and the European Union are primarily governed by two agreements, a bilateral free trade agreement signed in 1972, and the agreement on the EEA in 1994. The EEA was established to give Iceland, among other European countries outside the EU, Icelands access to the EU market excludes agriculture and fisheries, which are dealt with by separate bilateral agreements. Iceland is legally bound to implement into its own law all EU directives applicable to the movement of goods, persons, services. This is complemented by regular meetings between EU and Icelandic officials, including a meeting of EEA foreign ministers. 78% of Icelands exports went to the EU and 52% of Icelands imports came from it, making the EU Icelands most important trading partner, Iceland is still a large exporter of fish with a world trade surplus of €1.1 billion in 2008. In fisheries, the EU had a 2009 trade deficit of €879 million, until Icelands 2009 financial crisis, its commercial services sector had been growing rapidly, accounting for almost 35% of total exports. In 1994, the Social Democratic Party became the first Icelandic political party to include the intention to apply to join the EU in its policy statement, former Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson predicted on 8 February 2006 that the country would join the EU by 2015. He added that the decisive factor would be the future and the size of the Eurozone, especially whether Denmark, Sweden and his prediction received some criticism, not the least from people within his own government
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Cod Wars
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The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with Icelands victory, as a result, British fishing communities lost access to rich areas and were devastated, with thousands of jobs lost. Since 1982, a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone has been the United Nations standard, the term cod war was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars meets any of the thresholds for a conventional war, though. There is only one confirmed death during the Cod Wars, an Icelandic engineer accidentally killed in the Second Cod War while repairing damage on an Icelandic gunboat, a variety of explanations for the occurrence of the Cod Wars have been put forward. Lessons drawn from the Cod Wars have been applied to international relations theory, fishermen from the British Isles began to fish in international waters near Iceland in and around 1400. From the early 16th century onwards, English sailors and fishermen were a presence in the waters off Iceland. Some Icelandic historians view the history of Icelands struggle for control of its resources in ten episodes. The first of these Cod Wars was a dispute between Norway and England in 1415–1425 over the trading with Iceland, which was in violation of Norways monopoly on the Icelandic trade. This dispute ended when the English arrested Eric of Pomeranias officials in Iceland, the agreement reached in 1976 is considered the final and tenth Cod War. With increases in range of fishing enabled by steam power in the part of the 19th century. Their large catches in Icelandic waters attracted more regular voyages across the North Atlantic, in 1893, the Danish Government, which had governed Iceland and the Faroe Islands, claimed a fishing limit of 50 nmi around their shores. British trawler owners disputed this claim and continued to send their ships to the waters near Iceland, in 1896 the United Kingdom made an agreement with Denmark which allowed for British vessels to use any Icelandic port for shelter, provided they stowed their gear and trawl nets. In return, British vessels were not to fish in Faxa Bay east of a line from Ílunýpa, in April 1899 the steam trawler Caspian was fishing off the Faroe Islands when a Danish gunboat tried to arrest her for allegedly fishing illegally inside the limits. The trawler refused to stop and was fired upon, eventually the trawler was caught but, before the skipper left his ship to go aboard the Danish gunboat, he ordered the mate to make a dash for it after he went on to the Danish ship. The Caspian set off at full speed, the gunboat fired several shots at the unarmed boat but could not catch up with the trawler, which returned heavily damaged to Grimsby, England. On board the Danish gunboat, the skipper of the Caspian was lashed to the mast, a court held at Thorshavn convicted him on several counts, including illegal fishing and attempted assault, and he was jailed for thirty days. The issue was left largely unresolved, the reduction in fishing activity brought about by the hostilities of the First World War effectively ended the dispute for a time
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Icelandic language
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Icelandic /aɪsˈlændɪk/ is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages, historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the colonisation of the Americas. Icelandic, Faroese, Norn, and Western Norwegian formerly constituted West Nordic, Danish, Eastern Norwegian, modern Norwegian Bokmål is influenced by both groups, leading the Nordic languages to be divided into mainland Scandinavian languages and Insular Nordic. Most Western European languages have reduced levels of inflection, particularly noun declension. In contrast, Icelandic retains a four-case synthetic grammar comparable to, Icelandic is distinguished by a wide assortment of irregular declensions. Icelandic also has many instances of oblique cases without any governing word, for example, many of the various Latin ablatives have a corresponding Icelandic dative. The vast majority of Icelandic speakers—about 320, 000—live in Iceland, more than 8,000 Icelandic speakers live in Denmark, of whom approximately 3,000 are students. The language is spoken by some 5,000 people in the United States. Notably in the province of Manitoba, while 97% of the population of Iceland consider Icelandic their mother tongue, the language is in decline in some communities outside Iceland, particularly in Canada. Icelandic speakers outside Iceland represent recent emigration in almost all cases except Gimli, Manitoba, the state-funded Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies serves as a centre for preserving the medieval Icelandic manuscripts and studying the language and its literature. Since 1995, on 16 November each year, the birthday of 19th-century poet Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated as Icelandic Language Day, the oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100 AD. Much of the texts are based on poetry and laws traditionally preserved orally, the most famous of the texts, which were written in Iceland from the 12th century onward, are the Icelandic Sagas. They comprise the historical works and the eddaic poems, the language of the sagas is Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. Danish rule of Iceland from 1380 to 1918 had little effect on the evolution of Icelandic, though more archaic than the other living Germanic languages, Icelandic changed markedly in pronunciation from the 12th to the 16th century, especially in vowels. The modern Icelandic alphabet has developed from an established in the 19th century. The later Rasmus Rask standard was a re-creation of the old treatise, with changes to fit concurrent Germanic conventions. Various archaic features, as the letter ð, had not been used much in later centuries, rasks standard constituted a major change in practice. Later 20th-century changes include the use of é instead of je, apart from the addition of new vocabulary, written Icelandic has not changed substantially since the 11th century, when the first texts were written on vellum
Media related to Alþingi at Wikimedia Commons
