Category: Allar greinar

Mánaðamótin okt/nov, 2016 var haldin ráðstefna í Edinborg um, hvað sjálfstætt Skotland gæti lært af reynslu Norðurlandaþjóða í samskiptum við Evrópusambandið.
Jón Baldvin var meðal framsögumanna. Ræða hans kallaðist: Lesson from Iceland. Erindin voru seinna (feb. 2017) gefin út á bók undir heitinu: McSmörgaarsbord.
Ræða JbH er kafli í þessari bók.

Ráðstefnustjórinn, Lesley Riddoch, formaður samtakanna “Nordic Horizons” í Skotlandi skrifar eftir farandi inngang til kynningar á ræðumanni:

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson is an Icelandic politician and diplomat who led the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was responsible for Iceland’s entry to the EEA in the 1990s.
That’s an accurate but wholly inadequate description of the seventy-something who bounded into Scotland to speak at Nordic Horizons’ Brexit conference, wowed the audience, met Nicola Sturgeon and Mike Russell along with Faroese MP Bjort Samuelsen and then bounced onto STV’s Scotland Tonight the same evening before flying back to Iceland with his wife Bryndís Schram, an actress, linguist, writer and TV personality.
His short but pithy TV contribution was still doing the rounds on YouTube as Jón Baldvin touched down at Keflavik.

Mánaðamótin okt/nov, 2016 var haldin ráðstefna í Edinborg um, hvað sjálfstætt Skotland gæti lært af reynslu Norðurlandaþjóða í samskiptum við Evrópusambandið.
Jón Baldvin var meðal framsögumanna. Ræða hans kallaðist: Lesson from Iceland. Erindin voru seinna (feb. 2017) gefin út á bók undir heitinu: McSmörgaarsbord.
Ræða JbH er kafli í þessari bók.

Lesley Riddoch, formaður samtakanna “Nordic Horizons” í Skotlandi skrifaði eftir farandi inngang til kynningar á ræðumanni.

1. From Rags to Riches

Icelanders began the twentieth century as the poorest of the poor in Europe. During the course of the century, we went from rags to riches. Around the end of the century, Icelanders had become the third richest country in Europe – in terms of income per capita – only surpassed by Luxemburg and Norway. Three small countries, by the way. Perhaps already a lesson to be learned.

Three major factors explain this success story: (1) home rule, (2) access to foreign capital, (3) tarif-free access to foreign markets. We could add a high level of education, speeding up technological transfer. Icelanders were never so poor, that they were illiterate.

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson interviewed by the Lithuanian TV about his part in Lithuania’s independence struggle and its future – on Lithuania’s 26th anniversary of independence.

“What´s Wrong with Europe – and by the Way – Why don´t You Fix it?” er ræða, sem var flutt 14. sept.á ráðstefnu í Vilníus um framtíð Evrópu. Ráðstefnan var haldin í boði utanríkisráðherra Litáens í tilefni af því, að aldarfjórðugur er liðinn frá því að alþjóðasamfélagið viðurkenndi endurreist sjálfstæði Litáens.

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, ex Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, gave this speech at a conference in Vilnius, September 14-15, 2016, sponsored by the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Mr. Linas Linkevicius.

In 2012 – a few years after the American financial crisis had spread around the globe and morphed into the Euro-crisis – I was invited to give a keynote-speech at the Baltic Assembly here in Vilnius. On the future of Europe – what else! The title of my talk then was „What is wrong with Europe – and, by the way, why don´t you fix it?“ At the beginning of my speech I followed the academic example by enumerating a few key-concepts, to start my audience thinking. Here they are again:

Toxic loans. Insolvent banks. Unsustainable debt. Bailouts of banks. Junk ratings. Sovereign defaults. Recession. Tax havens. Market manipulation. Insider trading. Creative accounting. Moral hazard. Social contract. Inequality: 1% vs. 99%. Austerity. Plutocracy vs. democracy.

This should suffice to start you thinking. Each and every concept speaks volumes about what´s wrong with Europe. Has anything changed during the past four years? Or are we simply stuck in this mess, for which European leaders seem to have no effective solutions?