Kristrún backs Inga Sæland’s account of ministerial changes

Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir has confirmed Inga Sæland’s account of the circumstances behind ministerial changes in the People’s Party earlier this year, telling Morgunblaðið that Sæland had “told the truth in this context.”

In an interview after a cabinet meeting, Frostadóttir said changes to a government are a major decision, but one made within each political party. Ministers serve with the backing of their party and the parliamentary majority, she said.

Asked about messages apparently attributed to Sæland’s aide, Sigurjón Árnason, claiming that “the Valkyries” alone had decided to change ministers, Frostadóttir said she would not call the messages fabricated. “That is not wording that comes from me,” she said, adding that she had not seen the messages and could not speak for them.

Frostadóttir said such decisions were often discussed in confidence and that there were limits to what was appropriate to disclose about private conversations. She said Guðmundur Ingi Kristinsson had made the decision himself, that it was the right decision and that she had supported it. She also said she felt warmly toward him and regretted how the public discussion had developed.

Frostadóttir said she had little involvement in the departure of Hörður Arnarson as chief executive of Landsvirkjun. She received a meeting request two or three weeks beforehand without being told its purpose, she said, and learned shortly before the meeting that he intended to resign. Arnarson told her he had decided to leave, citing a disagreement over governance, but Frostadóttir said she could not comment on the details.