A new judge on the EFTA Court is possibly unsuited to serve as such when the Icesave dispute between Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands opens at the court because of his comments on the dispute in the media.

The Norwegian Per Christiansen, who took a seat on the EFTA Court earlier this year, used to work as a law professor at the University in Tromsö, Norway.

According to visir.is, he publicly expressed his opinions on the Icesave dispute on two occasions: in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on January 12, 2010, and in the Icelandic online media pressan.is on February 13, 2010.

Therefore, he might be deemed unfit to rule on Icesave.

Iceland’s defense towards ESA, the EFTA Surveillance Authority, which believes the Icelandic state violated the EEA directive on deposit insurance and discriminated against savers outside Iceland by not paying the Icesave claims, is now in full preparation.

The executives of ESA announced in a letter on June 10 that Iceland’s arguments in the Icesave dispute cannot be accepted, stating that they are still of the view that the Icelandic state is obligated to pay the minimum deposit insurance, EUR 20,887 (ISK 3.5 million, USD 30,000), for each Icesave depositor.

The case against Iceland will be litigated as a case of violation of the EEA agreement before the EFTA Court.

Icesave was defunct Icelandic bank Landsbanki’s branch in the UK and the Netherlands.

Click here to read more about Icesave.