MP for the Progressive Party Vigdís Hauksdóttir has apologized for comments she made about parliamentary staff in an interview with Monitor, a supplement in daily Morgunblaðið, last week. “My comments were very unfortunate. I want to apologize to those concerned,” she said in parliament yesterday, ruv.is reports.
Vigdís also sent out an apology via email over the weekend.
In the interview, Vigdís said that parliamentarians were no longer respected as they used to be 15 years ago. “The parliamentary staff did not address parliamentarians … People had a lot of respect for parliamentarians … The parliamentary staff should honor these traditions. Today it has become far too casual for my taste.”
Parliamentarians from all parties—including the assistants of leaders of the ruling coalition parties Bjarni Benediktsson and PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson—disputed the comments, saying that they have had good experience with the parliamentary staff.
These comments come after a string of similarly controversial statements. The parliamentarian recently found herself in hot water after asking Icelandic cosmetics company EGF not to advertise in Kvennablaðið (The Women’s Paper) after the publication ran an article about some of the parliamentarian’s worst gaffes.
