Þorsteinn Pálsson writes: Again or never again?

The chairman of the Independence Party parliamentary party opened the political debate after the traditional summer debate. The message was unmistakable: never regain control of VG.

The statement attracted widespread attention. She also raised some questions:

If it is a fixed year, why not stop it immediately? Or: When members of the ruling party believe that there is no better way to serve the people than this cooperation for the next twelve months, why rule out the possibility of continuing for a year?

The chairman of the Independent Party thought about it and tactfully retracted the brief speech of the chairman of the Parliamentary Party.

It can be said that the promise of “no longer cooperating with VG” is no longer valid.

The sin is no greater

But in defence of the Independence Party leader, it is worth reminding that the current VG leader made the same promise at the 2022 party council meeting in İsafjörður, when some thought it would fail.

The then vice chairman, who has now taken over as chairman, immediately said categorically that the party would elect someone else to cooperate next time.

After the first five years of cooperation, and with three full years until the elections, it was necessary to make a promise to the VG party council: never to return to government with the Independence Party again. Whether this was a meaningless prank or a serious move, no one knew.

But the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Party paid the same price after two years in office. The sin was no greater.

The Error of the Old Law

At the 2022 Ísafjörður conference, the current VG president thought it would be unwise to sit there and say: Never be with the Independence Party again.

He also felt it necessary to remind party MPs that the main success of cooperation lies in preventing the partner party from achieving its goals.

Most of the country’s citizens have realized that this cooperation is not based on traditional compromise, where each party meets the other halfway.

The new law shuts out coalition governments. Until the formation of this government, the principle of government cooperation was once again to raise its own policy issues and shut out the opposition’s issues.

How is it going?

So, seven years into the board, with a quarter of its members still alive during Asingi’s tenure, how is it now?

Many believe that a new dynamic has emerged in government cooperation following the VG party council meeting in Reykjanesberg last weekend.

Yet a closer look reveals little that is new in the conference charter. For the past seven years, they have been used more for internal use than for guiding government cooperation. Why change now? In any case, the credibility behind such speculation is low.

One of the conference resolutions meant that it was the country’s good fortune that the Independent Party gave the VG minister a mandate to enter the government, but equally, it was the country’s misfortune that the VG gave such a mandate to the Independent minister.

On closer inspection, the idea is nothing more than words coming out of the mouth of the then vice-chairman at the Ísafjörður conference. And the wind energy resolution is a repetition of what the former prime minister said in his national holiday speech at the start of the election period.

Leeds Truss Effect

After all, not much has changed. There is little sign that the coming parliamentary winter will resemble the previous one.

VG and the Independence Party will only continue to cover up each other’s important issues.

The budget will be dealt with in the usual way. While inflation and nominal interest rates are expected to fall, financial markets believe gilt yields will remain close to gilts after the political frenzy over Liz Truss’s historic budget.

The British Conservative Party has adopted this as its creed. However, this is not enough. But here, it is considered better to transfer the financial responsibility to the chairman of Framsokrn.

With this in mind, it can be assumed that members of the VG and the Independence Party will have plenty of time to think carefully about the question: again or never again?