Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Encyclopedia
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson ˈoːulavʏr ˈraknar ˈkrimsɔn (born 14 May 1943) is the fifth and current President of Iceland
. He has served as President since 1996; he was unopposed in 2000, re-elected for a third term in 2004, and re-elected unopposed
for a fourth term in 2008. He is the longest-serving left-wing president in the history of Iceland
.
, Iceland. From 1962 to 1970, he studied economics and political science
at the University of Manchester
; in 1970 he was the first person from Iceland to earn a PhD in political science. He became a lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland
in 1970, then a Professor of Political Science at the same university in 1973. He was the University's first Professor of Political Science.
In 1984, he participated, along with other three left-wing intellectuals, in a debate with the known economist Milton Friedman
, who was in Iceland to give a lecture on the "tyranny of the status quo" at the University of Iceland
.
, Ólafur was a Member of Althing
for Reykjavík
from 1978 to 1983; during this time he was Chairman of the People's Alliance parliamentary group from 1980 to 1983. Subsequently, he was Chairman of the People's Alliance executive committee from 1983 to 1987; additionally, from 1983 to 1985 he was editor of a newspaper, Þjóðviljinn. From 1987 to 1995, he was Leader of the People's Alliance; during this time, he served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991 and as a Member of Althing
for Reykjanes
from 1991 to 1996.
As member of the Althing, Ólafur was among the most controversial politicians in Iceland. Originally elected as President from a field of four candidates with 42% of the total votes, Ólafur has from the outset been a controversial figure in the office of President, an office that has mainly ceremonial functions meant to symbolise national unity and bears little responsibility for government affairs.
In the 1996 presidential election, he was elected with 41.4% of the votes.
to put a law from Alþingi in to a referendum. He did that on 2 June 2004 to a law about the mass media. His decision remains controversial with politicians and legal scholars alike. Some consider the refusing to sign as "an attack" on Alþingi and parliamentary sovereignty
and lawyers debate whether article 26 is actually valid. No national referendum was ever held about the controversial media law as the government withdrew the law before a referendum could be held.
. Some have also wanted to rest that power with the people themselves, who could then force referendums to be held on laws by – for instance – collecting a certain number of signatures.
and sworn in for another term on 1 August 2008.
In early November, the President attended a traditional informal lunch with all ambassadors to Iceland, held by the senior Danish ambassador. According to a confidential memo from the Norwegian embassy, quoted in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen
, the President said: "The North Atlantic is important to Scandinavia, the US and Britain. This is a fact these countries now seem to ignore. Then, Iceland should rather get some new friends". However, he praised Norway and the Faroes for their swift decisions to grant major loans to Iceland. He also said Iceland should rather invite Russia to use the Keflavík Air Base. According to the memo, the offer was turned down by an "amazed and smiling" Russian ambassador who said Russia did not have any need for this. Ólafur also criticised the International Monetary Fund
for the system's flaws and for their bad treatment of Iceland. He said it was part of Icelandic political mentality to "fight alone" rather than being threatened to submit, and that he expected Iceland to overcome the crisis sooner than the US and Britain by showing initiative and international activity in new fields. The memo, however, underlines that the President of Iceland has no political power and that no government official has presented similar points of view "to the same degree".
The Danish ambassador to Iceland, Lasse Reimann, confirmed to the daily Politiken
that the lunch had taken place, but declined to comment on the President's speech.
On 5 January 2010 the President of Iceland vetoed a measure of the Icelandic government to pay the governments of Britain and the Netherlands for their bailouts of customers of private Icelandic banks (no such bailout was required under Icelandic law, though on 26 May 2010 the EFTA
found it was required by the terms of Iceland's membership of the EEA
). The President's veto was upheld by the people of Iceland when they voted upon the measure in March 2010. This dispute is known as Icesave dispute.
On 20 February 2011 the President of Iceland again vetoed an effort by the Icelandic government to pay (over a period of years) money to the governments of Britain and the Netherlands. In a referendum, which was held on 9 April 2011, Icelanders rejected for a second time a proposal to pay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands. Nearly 60% of Icelanders rejected the proposal put forward by the government. The President's veto was upheld by the people and the government now needs to find a way to solve this issue.
with the participation of a large group of companies and individual opinion leaders. President Ólafur strongly advocates the use of geothermal energy, which is renewable, economically viable and reliable resource, as proven convincingly by the case of Iceland.
In relation to his efforts on these issues, President Ólafur has participated in the Global Creative Leadership Summit, organized by the Louise Blouin Foundation, in 2007 and 2008. He was also awarded the Louise T Blouin Award for Creative and Cultural Achievement. In 2008, as a delegate at the Summit he delivered the Keynote Speech on Climate Change versus Globalization.
in 1974, who gave birth to twin daughters the following year, Guðrún Tinna, a graduate in Business Studies, and Svanhildur Dalla, a graduate both in Political Science and Law. Guðrún Katrín was a popular figure in Iceland, and the country mourned when she passed away after a fight with leukaemia
in 1998.
Ólafur's second marriage was to Israel
i-born Dorrit Moussaieff
, to whom he became engaged in May 2000. The wedding took place on his 60th birthday, 14 May 2003, in a private ceremony held at the presidential residence.
They have a dog, Sámur, who is named after the dog of Gunnar of Hlíðarendi, a great viking. Gunnar is one of the main characters in Njála.
procedure. This was announced on 9 October, with his saying that he was "recovering and has resumed most activities".
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. He has served as President since 1996; he was unopposed in 2000, re-elected for a third term in 2004, and re-elected unopposed
Icelandic presidential election, 2008
An election for the office of President of Iceland was planned to be held in Iceland on 28 June 2008. The incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, first elected in 1996, stated in his New Year's speech that he would contest the election for a fourth term. Ástþór Magnússon, who ran unsuccessfully in 1996...
for a fourth term in 2008. He is the longest-serving left-wing president in the history of Iceland
History of Iceland
-Early history:In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge...
.
Early life
Ólafur was born in ÍsafjörðurÍsafjörður
Ísafjörður is a town in the north west of Iceland, seat of Ísafjarðarbær municipality.The town draws its name from the fjord and the fjord was given its name simultaneously to the island...
, Iceland. From 1962 to 1970, he studied economics and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
; in 1970 he was the first person from Iceland to earn a PhD in political science. He became a lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland
University of Iceland
The University of Iceland is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern comprehensive university, providing instruction for about...
in 1970, then a Professor of Political Science at the same university in 1973. He was the University's first Professor of Political Science.
In 1984, he participated, along with other three left-wing intellectuals, in a debate with the known economist Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
, who was in Iceland to give a lecture on the "tyranny of the status quo" at the University of Iceland
University of Iceland
The University of Iceland is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern comprehensive university, providing instruction for about...
.
Political career
As part of the left-wing People's AlliancePeople's Alliance (Iceland)
The People's Alliance was an electoral alliance in Iceland from 1956 to 1968 and a political party from 1968 to 1998.-History:In 1916 the Social Democratic Party was formed in Iceland. In 1930 a split surged, thus forming the Communist Party of Iceland , recognised as the Icelandic section of the...
, Ólafur was a Member of Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
for Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
from 1978 to 1983; during this time he was Chairman of the People's Alliance parliamentary group from 1980 to 1983. Subsequently, he was Chairman of the People's Alliance executive committee from 1983 to 1987; additionally, from 1983 to 1985 he was editor of a newspaper, Þjóðviljinn. From 1987 to 1995, he was Leader of the People's Alliance; during this time, he served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991 and as a Member of Althing
Althing
The Alþingi, anglicised variously as Althing or Althingi, is the national parliament of Iceland. The Althingi is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant...
for Reykjanes
Reykjanes
Reykjanes or Reykjanesskagi is a peninsula and a volcanic system situated at the south-western end of Iceland, near the capital of Reykjavík....
from 1991 to 1996.
As member of the Althing, Ólafur was among the most controversial politicians in Iceland. Originally elected as President from a field of four candidates with 42% of the total votes, Ólafur has from the outset been a controversial figure in the office of President, an office that has mainly ceremonial functions meant to symbolise national unity and bears little responsibility for government affairs.
President of Iceland
Refusal to sign media law
He is the first president to use the authorization given in the 26th article of the Icelandic constitutionConstitution of Iceland
The Constitution of Iceland is the supreme law of Iceland. It is composed of 80 articles in seven sections, and within it the leadership arrangement of the country is determined and the human rights of its citizens are preserved. The current constitution was first instituted on June 17, 1944; since...
to put a law from Alþingi in to a referendum. He did that on 2 June 2004 to a law about the mass media. His decision remains controversial with politicians and legal scholars alike. Some consider the refusing to sign as "an attack" on Alþingi and parliamentary sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. In the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, a legislative body has absolute sovereignty, meaning it is supreme to all other government institutions—including any executive or judicial bodies...
and lawyers debate whether article 26 is actually valid. No national referendum was ever held about the controversial media law as the government withdrew the law before a referendum could be held.
Re-election 2004
In the 2004 presidential election, Ólafur was re-elected with 67.5% of the votes cast (down from over 95% in the only other time an incumbent has been contested), but that election also saw a record number of empty ballots (21.2%) and an exceptionally low turnout of 63% (usually 80–90%), both of which have been interpreted as dissent with the president's decision to not sign the media law. Since then, the issue of a constitutional amendment to revoke the veto power of the president has been raised by the Independence PartyIndependence Party (Iceland)
The Independence Party is a centre-right political party in Iceland. Liberal conservative and Eurosceptic, it is the second-largest party in the Althing, with sixteen seats. The chairman of the party is Bjarni Benediktsson and vice chairman is Ólöf Nordal....
. Some have also wanted to rest that power with the people themselves, who could then force referendums to be held on laws by – for instance – collecting a certain number of signatures.
Re-election 2008
On 1 January 2008, in his new year's address, Ólafur announced his intention to seek a fourth term in office later in 2008. Because there was no challenger, he was automatically re-electedIcelandic presidential election, 2008
An election for the office of President of Iceland was planned to be held in Iceland on 28 June 2008. The incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, first elected in 1996, stated in his New Year's speech that he would contest the election for a fourth term. Ástþór Magnússon, who ran unsuccessfully in 1996...
and sworn in for another term on 1 August 2008.
Crisis of 2008 statements
In the aftermath of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, Ólafur has criticised other countries for lack of help to Iceland.In early November, the President attended a traditional informal lunch with all ambassadors to Iceland, held by the senior Danish ambassador. According to a confidential memo from the Norwegian embassy, quoted in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen
Klassekampen
Klassekampen is a Norwegian daily newspaper, which styles itself as "the daily left-wing newspaper".Klassekampen was founded in 1969 with a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist platform. Until recently, it was owned by The Workers' Communist Party...
, the President said: "The North Atlantic is important to Scandinavia, the US and Britain. This is a fact these countries now seem to ignore. Then, Iceland should rather get some new friends". However, he praised Norway and the Faroes for their swift decisions to grant major loans to Iceland. He also said Iceland should rather invite Russia to use the Keflavík Air Base. According to the memo, the offer was turned down by an "amazed and smiling" Russian ambassador who said Russia did not have any need for this. Ólafur also criticised the International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
for the system's flaws and for their bad treatment of Iceland. He said it was part of Icelandic political mentality to "fight alone" rather than being threatened to submit, and that he expected Iceland to overcome the crisis sooner than the US and Britain by showing initiative and international activity in new fields. The memo, however, underlines that the President of Iceland has no political power and that no government official has presented similar points of view "to the same degree".
The Danish ambassador to Iceland, Lasse Reimann, confirmed to the daily Politiken
Politiken
Politiken is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus.The newspaper comes third among Danish newspapers in terms of both number of readers and circulated copies ....
that the lunch had taken place, but declined to comment on the President's speech.
On 5 January 2010 the President of Iceland vetoed a measure of the Icelandic government to pay the governments of Britain and the Netherlands for their bailouts of customers of private Icelandic banks (no such bailout was required under Icelandic law, though on 26 May 2010 the EFTA
EFTA
EFTA may refer to:* European Family Therapy Association, an NGO.* European Fair Trade Association, an association of eleven Fair Trade importers in nine European countries....
found it was required by the terms of Iceland's membership of the EEA
EEA
EEA or Eea may refer to:* Eea or Electron affinity, the energy required to detach an electron from a singly charged negative ion* River Eea, in Cumbria, England* EEA Helicopter Operations, a Dutch subsidiary of CHC Helicopter...
). The President's veto was upheld by the people of Iceland when they voted upon the measure in March 2010. This dispute is known as Icesave dispute.
On 20 February 2011 the President of Iceland again vetoed an effort by the Icelandic government to pay (over a period of years) money to the governments of Britain and the Netherlands. In a referendum, which was held on 9 April 2011, Icelanders rejected for a second time a proposal to pay $5 billion to Britain and the Netherlands. Nearly 60% of Icelanders rejected the proposal put forward by the government. The President's veto was upheld by the people and the government now needs to find a way to solve this issue.
Views on current global issues
Ólafur has identified the 2009 financial crisis, the need for a green energy revolution, and climate change as the three most pressing issues in today’s world. Declaring these three problems to be interconnected, he has said, “None of these three crises can be solved without solving the other.”Other achievements
In recent years the President has been outspoken on the issues of renewable energy and global climate change. He initiated a Global Roundtable on Climate ChangeGlobal Roundtable on Climate Change
The Global Roundtable on Climate Change, convened by the Earth Institute at Columbia University is a group of representatives from corporations, research institutions, and government organizations to discuss the scientific consensus, economics, technology, and public policy issues associated with...
with the participation of a large group of companies and individual opinion leaders. President Ólafur strongly advocates the use of geothermal energy, which is renewable, economically viable and reliable resource, as proven convincingly by the case of Iceland.
In relation to his efforts on these issues, President Ólafur has participated in the Global Creative Leadership Summit, organized by the Louise Blouin Foundation, in 2007 and 2008. He was also awarded the Louise T Blouin Award for Creative and Cultural Achievement. In 2008, as a delegate at the Summit he delivered the Keynote Speech on Climate Change versus Globalization.
Family
He married Guðrún Katrín ÞorbergsdóttirGuðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir
Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir was the First Lady of Iceland 1996—1998. She was the first wife of Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.Guðrún Katrín studied archaeology and sociology. She was the General Manager of the Postal Workers Union for nearly 20 years, and managed a clothing store in...
in 1974, who gave birth to twin daughters the following year, Guðrún Tinna, a graduate in Business Studies, and Svanhildur Dalla, a graduate both in Political Science and Law. Guðrún Katrín was a popular figure in Iceland, and the country mourned when she passed away after a fight with leukaemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in 1998.
Ólafur's second marriage was to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-born Dorrit Moussaieff
Dorrit Moussaieff
Dorrit Moussaieff is an Israeli-born British jewellery designer, editor and businesswoman. She is the First Lady of Iceland, married to Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president of Iceland.-Biography:...
, to whom he became engaged in May 2000. The wedding took place on his 60th birthday, 14 May 2003, in a private ceremony held at the presidential residence.
They have a dog, Sámur, who is named after the dog of Gunnar of Hlíðarendi, a great viking. Gunnar is one of the main characters in Njála.
Health
Ólafur was hospitalized in Reykjavík on 6 October 2008 for an angioplastyAngioplasty
Angioplasty is the technique of mechanically widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel, the latter typically being a result of atherosclerosis. An empty and collapsed balloon on a guide wire, known as a balloon catheter, is passed into the narrowed locations and then inflated to a fixed size...
procedure. This was announced on 9 October, with his saying that he was "recovering and has resumed most activities".