Address by the Prime Minister of Iceland ,on National Day, June 17 2006

Fellow Icelanders

Our treasured National Day, June 17, has come around again, the anniversary of the birth of [independence campaign leader] Jón Sigurðsson. Today is the 195th anniversary of his birth. When we gather here at Austurvöllur by his statue it is to present Iceland with our tributes and pledges of loyalty, as [poet and first Prime Minister of Iceland] Hannes Hafstein put it:

 

O land so treasured, land so true,
better than we can ever know,
tributes and pledges of loyalty to you
are the first duty we all owe.

 

Jón Sigurðsson was a bold campaigner, driven by conviction about his agenda and certainty about the best arrangement for this nation’s affairs. The time will soon be upon us to formulate ideas about how to celebrate the bicentenary of this champion of Icelandic freedom.
Jón Sigurðsson’s main concepts of national and economic freedom are certainly still fully valid although the circumstances now are totally different. The structure of our society today is based on those ideas and will hopefully long continue to be for a long time hence. Our sovereignty and independence are not merely the romantic ambition of a small nation, but also valuable in their own right, as the history of the Icelandic nation and the era of uninterrupted progress last century demonstrate so convincingly.
National freedom went hand in hand there with a drive towards progress, optimism with freedom of enterprise.
The precondition for reaping the fruits of economic and commercial freedom is to grant individuals and their organisations sufficient scope for the creativity that dwells within them. But this freedom must also be accompanied by freedom from oppression and from excessive control.
Most of us conceive of freedom and sovereignty as complementary notions in the same way that independence has gone in tandem with the drive towards improved living standards and progress. The great wealth that has been generated in this country has also created better conditions for fostering what it is that makes us a nation, the heritage embodied in our culture, history and language. That wealth must not be forgotten amidst all the prosperity that we now enjoy or the impressive ground won by Icelandic businesses in their expansion abroad.
Our forebearers settled this country in search of freedom from tyranny, seeking a better life. Today, people still come here who believe that Icelandic society offers them opportunities to find suitable outlets for their energies, ingenuity and talents. We should feel pleased that our country and community exert such an attraction and welcome the growing numbers of people who want to enjoy the privileges of being Icelanders.
A large part of being an Icelander is speaking Icelandic. For this reason, we must help the new residents of our country to learn the language.

 

Iceland, Iceland! Nothing other
than your language rings so clear;
Lighting the spring night for you, mother,
may it sing your praises here.

 

That was the tribute that poetess Hulda paid to her native tongue.

We all cherish the Icelandic language and want to own it in common with those who come wishing to share in what we enjoy in this country.
The course that Iceland has chosen to follow as a sovereign nation has yielded incredible results. Other nations feel that they can learn from us, most recently Montenegro, whose sovereignty we were the first nation to recognise a few days ago when they withdrew from their federation with Serbia. They have already sent representatives here on a fact-finding mission about fiscal and other matters.
Huge advances have been made in Iceland over the past years, bringing about great and rapid changes. In many respects Iceland is flourishing today and the economy has never been better in the country’s entire history, even though admittedly we feel some strains when the economy is racing ahead at its current pace. All sections of the community are better off than before, although that is not to say that everyone is satisfied with his or her lot.
We politicians and various organisations throughout society have the role of watching over the position and welfare of those who are not as well placed as the rest. My government will do just that.
In the economic climate that has now developed it is important to achieve consensus between the social partners and the Government on measures to bring inflation down quickly at the same time as defending the least fortunate sections of society against its effects.
That way peace in the labour market until the end of next year and economic stability should be ensured while the economy catches its breath after the recent phase of large-scale development.
Everyone must do their share towards ensuring stability in the coming years. The Government has to do its part, and likewise the social partners, banks and local authorities, to mention only the main stakeholders. But every business and household in Iceland will also have to take matters in hand and keep its consumption and demand for credit in check. “Slow but sure” is the best motto for the economy, and steady gains in living standards are a better option than cycles where spells of robust growth alternate with contractions.
I would like to take this opportunity to assure you all that the Government will make its contribution in this respect, even if it may cost temporary postponements of public sector investment projects, changes in the tax laws or other measures.
There is no question about the trust and respect that Iceland enjoys at an international level on account of the progress that it has made. So it is vital not to falter, not to lose our grip on how developments unfold. Let us not forget, however, that the challenges we face now are the consequences of success – and that most members of the community of nations would gladly swap their own problems for ours. This view was aired, for example, in a recent report by the International Monetary Fund, which praised the achievements of recent years – and also said that Iceland’s economic outlook was enviable.
The fundamental duty of those who are mandated by the electorate to hold the highest office of government is to guarantee the nation’s security, to preserve and strengthen the sovereign rights that belong to us in the community of nations. It is gratifying that an agreement is now in sight with our neighbours in the Faroe Islands and Norway on sharing out the seabed inwhat is known as the Herring Loophole outside our 200-mile economic zones. Energetic efforts are still being made in this field towards safeguarding Icelandic interests, and new avenues are being explored in international law. We recently commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the extension of our economic zone to 200 miles. The Coast Guard played a crucial role then, as it did in the entire territorial waters issue. Now the Coast Guard is being strengthened once again in connection with a new framework for search and rescue operations in Iceland.
For more than half a century, Iceland has cooperated with other Western nations on guaranteeing our security. Even though Iceland and the United States disagree at times, our cooperation on this issue has been excellent for the whole of this period. But the question of Iceland’s defences, poses a challenge, now that it is clear that the Iceland Defence Force will be withdrawn this autumn. Efforts are now being made to reach an agreement with the United States on a new framework which could replace the permanent American military presence in Iceland. In my view it is possible to engineer an arrangement whereby the most crucial aspects of Icelandic security will be ensured.
Given Iceland’s long and successful security and defence cooperation with the United States, it is prudent to continue to trust in American strength, if possible. The Government is therefore determined to make the utmost effort to reach a satisfactory conclusion in the coming talks with the United States on the basis of the Defence Agreement from 1951.

Fellow Icelanders.
June the seventeenth is a day that unites our nation. Across the road from here, in our dignified old Parliament House, different viewpoints and standpoints towards different governments weigh up against each other. It tends to be a forum for heated arguments, as people are well aware, but it is a much less publicised fact that a good consensus prevails on most matters. A summary at the end of the parliamentary session reveals that in 70% of all voting, Parliament is unanimous – so only 30% of all votes saw any opposition or abstention, and serious differences are even rarer. I point this out to remind us that there is so much more that unites the people of Iceland than divides us – on most fundamental issues regarding our society we are on the same track. We must not make too much of differences over matters which, in some cases, will have little effect on how we fare in the coming years and decades, however much opinions may be divided over the issues of the day. We are heading in the right direction.

Ladies and gentlemen.
The changes in the Government of Iceland this week were only made at short notice. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, Halldór Ásgrímsson, for his decades of enormous and successful work in the service of the nation.
We Icelanders are a fortunate nation with a strong sense of democracy. The possibilities and opportunities ahead of us would not be taken for granted in many other parts of the world. We need to stand guard over this aspect of the quality of our life. The lower than usual turnout in last month’s local government elections is therefore a cause of some concern. We must not forget the sacrifices that were made for the right to self-determination, nor the sacrifices made by oppressed nations in much of the world to acquire the right to be able to vote on their own affairs. We should aim to remain among the countries with the highest electoral participation. This is the way to provide politicians with the restraint they need and to show our democratic tradition and national independence an appropriate degree of respect.

I wish you all a happy National Day.