Crisis of 2008 statements
After the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, Ólafur criticized other countries for lack of help to Iceland.
In early November 2008, 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". He praised Norway and the Faroe Islands for their swift decision to grant major loans to Iceland. He also said Iceland should rather invite Russia to use the Keflavík Air Base. According to the memo, an "amazed and smiling" Russian ambassador said Russia did not have any need for this. Ólafur also criticised the International Monetary Fund for the system's flaws and for its mistreatment of Iceland. He said it was part of Icelandic political mentality to "fight alone" rather than being threatened into submission, 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 underlined that the President of Iceland has no political power and that no other government official had 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 discuss on the President's comments.
On 5 January 2010, the President of Iceland vetoed a measure of the Icelandic government to repay 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 repay (in installments over a period of years) the governments of Britain and the Netherlands. In a referendum 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 thus upheld by the people.
