ESB membership would bring unemployment and lower purchasing power, contributor says

In a submitted article published by mbl.is, Albert Þór Jónsson argues that Iceland should reject European Union membership, warning that it would lead to 40 per cent unemployment and a 50 per cent decline in purchasing power.

Jónsson says the Icelandic government has limited financial literacy and that its move towards what he describes as a technically bankrupt Europe and the EU is a disastrous course. He claims Iceland is one of the three countries in the world with the highest quality of life, and that all three are outside the EU and do not use the euro.

He argues that voting no on August 29 is the only way to prevent a catastrophe with serious consequences for Iceland. He says the predicted unemployment and loss of purchasing power will become reality because Europe and the EU are in rapid decline.

As an example, Jónsson cites Germany’s share of global gross domestic product, which he says fell from 8.29 per cent in 1995 to 4.17 per cent in 2025. Over the same period, he says China’s share increased from 2.36 per cent to 16.92 per cent, while the United States led with 26.84 per cent.

Jónsson says Germany and France, the EU’s largest countries, account for about 7 per cent of global GDP and that their share is falling rapidly.

He then compares the current debate with the Kópavogur meeting of July 28, 1662. At that meeting, he says, the authority of Iceland’s parliament was reduced, while the Danish king took greater control of legislative power and strengthened the king’s officials at Bessastaðir, the seat of royal administration.

According to Jónsson, the purpose was to persuade Icelandic leaders to accept hereditary absolute monarchy. Before that, he says, the monarchy was elective: the king was chosen by the state’s principal representatives and would not legally become king until representatives of all the nations belonging to the Danish realm had approved the agreement.

Admiral Henrik Bjelke, the king’s representative, came to Iceland for the meeting in Kópavogur to obtain the Icelandic chieftains’ signatures on the hereditary submission. The agreement later became known as the Kópavogur agreement.

Jónsson says its consequence was that laws enacted by the king automatically took effect without specific approval from Iceland’s parliament. Similar agreements were made in all the nations belonging to the Danish realm, and the collection of agreements was known as the Act of Absolute Monarchy.

He says hereditary absolute monarchy remained in force until 1874, when Iceland received a constitution, 212 years later. He describes the 1662 meeting as a historic event at which Icelanders were forced to accept the Danish king’s absolute rule.

Jónsson says Halldór Laxness gives a detailed account of these events and their background in his novel Iceland’s Bell. In the novel, he says, Icelanders signed the Act of Absolute Monarchy under the threat of weapons held by the Danish authorities.

He argues that the novel shows how Icelandic society and culture came under pressure in the 17th century, with the Kópavogur meeting serving as a symbol of the seizure of power and the oppression endured by ordinary Icelanders.

Jónsson says Laxness criticised the nation’s submission to foreign power more than any other Icelandic writer. He quotes Laxness as writing in 1936:

It is believed that few nations have endured oppression and overbearing treatment with greater courtesy than the Icelanders. For centuries, right up to the present day, they lived in understanding reconciliation with oppression, without ever attempting a rebellion. To no nation was the idea of revolution equally hidden. The Icelanders were always ready to kiss the rod that hurt most and believe that the cold blooded executioner was their truest help and safest shelter.

Jónsson concludes that centralisation and submission have not served nations well, and that other European countries can testify to this. He says Iceland should pursue trade with the world’s leading nations.