We all are Icelanders, fed up to pay for the banks failures!

Dear Icelandic friends,

As Newropeans, let us share with you few reactions to your current fight against the outrageous blackmail of the British and Dutch governments regarding the debts of the failed Icelandic banks.

By doing so, both governments try to oppose the Icelandic taxpayers to the British and Dutch savers in order to hide the responsabilities which are lying among the government themselves, the financial regulators and the banks; while asserting once more the idea that citizens should always pay for the bankers and regulators' mistakes who therefore enjoy a complete immunity for their failures.

First of all, you are right to resist the demands of London and The Hague which are going beyond the existing Icelandic banking regulations at the time of the banks collapse. Those two countries' regulators have failed to properly monitor the banks acting on their territories (and both have been obliged to pour billions to rescue their own national 'banking champions'). And if unfortunately British and Dutch customers have been caught up into the Icelandic private banks collapse with a bank guarantee of no more than 20 000 € (versus 100 000 € in the EU), it is primary an issue for the British and Dutch authorities which allow them to do so on such a large scale.

Second, London and The Hague have no moral right to blackmail you about the accession of your country to the EU. They do not even have the support of their own citizens for such a shameful action. You are yourselves put into a tragic economic and social situation because of these private banks collapse. The EU was not created to put people into financial servitude, neither to push them into greater poverty. Quite the contrary! The more you case will be made public in the EU, the less London and The Hague will be able to defend their current position. And in any case, membership to the EU is not worth the price of decades of financial servitude. The European Parliament should vote as soon as possible to deny London and The Hague's blackmail about your accession.

Third, your country has no more, no less obligations than what the European regulations plan in the case of private banks collapse. And till it happens in your country, nothing was really planned for that kind of situation. So play by the European books, if any, and nothing more. And do not hesitate to underline that Uk and The Netherlands did not dare to ask Washington to compensate for all the losses incurred by their citizens in the Lehman Brothers collapse. So no reason to have a different treatment for Iceland! Once again, the EU is made for putting the small and the big countries on an equal footing in terms of rights.

Fourth, don't bend to the 'bankers' kind of attitude that both London and The Hague are having. They do act with you as if they were a bank managing a mortgage : what's their next step if you refuse their ultimatum? Foreclosing Iceland and expelling you out of your country? Don't forget that it is not only in Iceland that people are fed up with the banks' behaviour. All over Europe and the world, and in UK in particular where the City is increasingly felt as a threat to people well being, feelings are turning very sour towards the banking establishment and its political puppets. So do resist and you will find support from everywhere. All of us are already paying and will pay even more in coming years for our own bankers and regulators mistakes.

Last but not least, if you want to play it safe, just do as the British governments always do with the EU, just say that you will comply, and once inside the EU do exactly the contrary of what you said. It has less panache, but it is definitely very effective.