Politicians in Iceland have been responding to this morning’s EFTA Court verdict on the Icesave case. The court’s announcement that Iceland won both its cases has been covered extensively in the Icelandic and foreign media.

Alþingi, Iceland's parliament. Photo copyright Icelandic Photo Agency.

As reported earlier, the EFTA Court ruling on Icesave rejected all claims by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) that Iceland should be declared in breach of the EEA Agreement.

Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir responded to the news at a press meeting earlier today saying that Iceland naturally welcomed the decision and that Iceland had always maintained that it had not broken the deposit guarantee directive.

Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson congratulated Iceland on the verdict in a speech at Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, adding that they would now hold a party. “Congratulations Iceland. This morning’s verdict was a full victory for us.” 

“I take my hat off to the EFTA Court for having the strength and courage to come to this conclusion despite all the scare tactics from opponents,”  Össur added.

Össur also thanked lead counsel Tim Ward for his work on the case, as well as grassroots organizations which have worked on the issue.

Minister of Industries and Innovation Steingrímur J. Sigfússon said that the verdict had been a victory for all of Iceland and that Icelanders should use it to show that the country is on the right path.

The verdict has been covered by all the major media outlets, including BBC, The Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and The New York Times.

Icelanders have also been responding to the news on Facebook. 

Payments from the estate of the defunct Landsbanki, estimated at ISK 1,517 billion (USD 11.8 billion, EUR 8.78 billion)—approximately ISK 200 billion in excess of the priority claims—will continue despite the verdict. A total of ISK 660 billion in priority claims has been paid from the estate.

The ruling is reported to be final and cannot be appealed.

Click here to read more about today's verdict.

ZR