MP likens Landsvirkjun board appointments to family business

An opposition MP criticised the appointment process for Landsvirkjun’s board and other state-owned companies in parliament on Tuesday, saying it resembled a family business more than a company owned by the public, mbl.is reported.

Nanna Margrét Gunnlaugsdóttir of the Centre Party made the comments as MPs debated Landsvirkjun. Opposition members have called on Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Daði Már Kristófersson to answer questions in parliament about the resignation of the company’s chief executive, Hörður Arnarson.

At the start of 2025, Daði Már introduced a new process for selecting people to serve on the boards of state-owned companies. It was intended to ensure board members had the necessary qualifications, education and experience.

“The minister went to great lengths to ensure elected representatives would not nominate board members. He changed the process so that he himself nominated all the board members, and it was supposed to be less political because he received names to choose from a selection committee,” Nanna said.

She argued that qualified board members should put the company’s interests first, and that it was possible to set higher standards without having the minister of the day select every board member. She also said that oversight depended on board members not all coming from the same direction.

“It is not professional to replace the entire board at once, as the minister did,” she said, adding that appointments to state boards were inherently political as long as the state owned the companies. Voters, she argued, should not be excluded from the process as far as possible.

At the end of her speech, Nanna questioned whether Viðreisn’s changes had created a takeover by civil servants who did not have to answer to voters.