Svona túlkar Financial Times umrætt samtal

Sýnist þeir túlka sem svo að Darling hafi farið offari í þessu máli. En ég hvet sem flesta til að lesa þeirra eigin grein (og svo hinar tvær sem eru líka frá því fyrr í kvöld um Ísland). Sé að fólk túlkar samtalið mjög misjafnlega. Fáir virðast lesa ummæli Darling um orðspor Íslendinga sem dulda hótun. 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/42c0e23c-a153-11dd-82fd-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F42c0e23c-a153-11dd-82fd-000077b07658.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fhome%2Feurope

Yfirlýsing viðskiptaráðherra

Athugasemdir

[Þórður Runólfsson (IP-tala skráð) 24.10.2008 kl. 01:29]

Það seigir okkur að Darling og Brown voru búnir að ákveða ákveðna atburðarrás ef ekki kæmi afgerandi svar og loforð um að greiða þessa reikninga að fullu. og það var að svínbeygja íslendinga og eyðileggja orðspor íslands.

[Brynjólfur Þorvarðsson, 24.10.2008 kl. 09:46]

Kristín, mar þarf víst að vera áskrifandi að FT til að sjá þessa grein - ókeypis skráningin gildir bara fyrir fyrstu 20 greinarnar sem ég er löngu búinn með!

Er nokkuð möguleiki að setja greinina inn í heild sinni einhvers staðar?

[Kristín Dýrfjörð, 24.10.2008 kl. 10:25]

Úps, hægt að lesa þetta á ýmsum örðum stöðum m.a. hér er umfjöllun á íslensku http://m5.is/?gluggi=frett&id=62847 

[Kristín Dýrfjörð, 24.10.2008 kl. 10:30]

Transcript challenges UK position on Iceland 

By David Ibison in Reykjavik and George Parker in London

Published: October 23 2008 23:56 | Last updated: October 23 2008 23:56

A transcript of a conversation between the UK chancellor, Alistair Darling, and his Icelandic counterpart appears to question the British government’s claim that Iceland had refused to compensate UK savers.

The transcript, obtained by the Financial Times, is of a telephone conversation at the height of the crisis on October 7 between Mr Darling and Árni Mathiesen, Icelandic finance minister.

In it they discuss whether or not the Icelandic government is in a position to compensate up to 300,000 British depositors in Icesave, the online arm of Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank.

At no point does the Icelandic finance minister state unequivocally that Iceland would not honour its obligations.

Instead, Mr Mathiesen says that Iceland plans to use its compensation scheme to try to meet obligations to British depositors.

This commits Iceland to paying €20,887 (£16,462) under directives agreed as part of its membership of the European Economic Area.

The transcript reads:

Alistair Darling: “What about the depositors you’ve got who’ve got deposits in London branches?

Árni Mathiesen: “We have the [deposit] insurance fund according to the Directive and how that works is explained in this letter (to the UK) and the pledge of support from the government to the fund.”

AD: “So the entitlements the people have which I think is about £16,000, they will be paid that?”

ÁM: “Well, I hope that will be the case. I cannot state that or guarantee that now but we are certainly working to solve this issue. This is something we really don’t want to have hanging over us.”

Mr Darling told BBC Radio on October 8: “The Icelandic government, believe it or not, have told me yesterday they have no intention of honouring their obligations here.”

The Icelandic government believes that Mr Darling’s statement induced panic in the UK, triggering a run on the one remaining Icelandic bank that was in business, Kaupthing, leading directly to its eventual collapse and forced nationalisation.

Iceland’s perceived refusal to honour its obligations was also instrumental in convincing the British government to use anti-terror legislation to freeze Icelandic banking assets to try to protect depositors.

The Treasury said last night: “The UK government has made it clear repeatedly that this decision to protect UK depositors in Icelandic banks was made after extensive conversations with the Icelandic government.”