Iceland’s Parliament was adjourned on Saturday and is not expected to convene again until after the upcoming election on September 25. Two of the government’s major bills for this term, one amending the constitution and the other establishing a Highland National Park, have not been passed. Political Science Professor Ólafur Þ. Harðarson says the lack […]
Parliament’s Speaker’s Committee is introducing a bill suggesting that six weeks before an election, Parliament will cease reimbursing MPs for travel. Speaker Steingrímur J. Sigfússon is the bill’s proponent and told RÚV that the legislation would put MPs on equal footing with other candidates for a parliamentary election. During the six-week period before elections, Parliament […]
Just four visitors were counted by wardens at Þingvellir National Park on February 18, 2021, according to an article on the park’s official website. On the same day last year, 3,322 visited the popular Almannagjá, a gorge between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. “Today four tourists visited Þingvellir,” the article reads. “One walked […]
A nursery, complete with a diaper change facility, has been opened at the first floor of Iceland’s Parliament building. Secretary-General of Alþingi Ragna Árnadóttir told Vísir that this is a good step towards making Parliament a more family-friendly workplace. Parliamentary sessions have also recently been rescheduled in order to shorten workweek and increase predictability for […]
“It is my conviction that Alþingi owes it to society to complete work on constitutional amendments,” Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir wrote in a column published in Fréttablaðið today. Iceland’s Parliament began reviewing the constitution this fall in a cross-party committee, and Katrín has stated it will take at least two terms to complete the […]
Social-Democratic Alliance MP Ágúst Ólafur Ágústsson has apologised for remarks he made in an radio interview yesterday implying that Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson is the true leader of Iceland’s government, not Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. The remarks have been criticised as misogynistic by Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir. Ágúst Ólafur apologised for the remarks in […]
A new parliamentary bill aims to reduce government involvement in the national church as well as change the terms for membership in the congregation, RÚV reports. “According to current law, the President of Iceland appoints the Bishop of Iceland and the suffragan bishops, which makes them government officials.” Should the revised bill be passed, the […]
Proposed changes to Iceland’s parental leave law hope to more equally balance childcare responsibilities between mothers and fathers, Kjarninn reports. If the current revisions are passed, both of a child’s parents would be allotted six months of leave, but only one of those months would be transferable between parents. A new draft of the new […]
A new social media campaign is calling on the government to make good on its commitment to revise the nation’s constitution, a process set in motion almost eight years ago. Fréttablaðið reports that the campaign was initiated by the Women’s Association for a New Constitution, using the hashtags #hvar (#where) and #HvarErNýjaStjórnarskráin (#WhereIsTheNewConstitution). Young women […]
The Ministry of Social Affairs is at work on a bill which would create a ‘grief leave’ for parents who have lost a child, RÚV reports. It’s hoped that the drafted bill will be ready to present to parliament by the spring. Minister for Social Affairs and Children Ásmundur Einar Daðason previously explained that the […]
