Page "Davíð Oddsson" Paragraph 13

After the 2003 elections, Davíð Oddsson and the leader of his coalition party, Halldór Ásgrímsson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, agreed that Davíð should remain Prime Minister until 15 September 2004, at which time Halldór would become Prime Minister, and that the Independence Party would, in exchange for relinquishing the Prime Minister ’ s post, gain an additional ministry in the government from its partner.

In 2004 the Davíð Oddsson government became embroiled in controversy, as Davíð introduced a bill which would have made it impossible for large private companies to own more than 15 % in any one media, and under which newspapers and television stations could not be owned by the same companies.

Davíð argued that this was to prevent concentration of the media in the hands a few people, and to enable the media to remain independent and critical not only towards politicians, but also towards financial moguls.

His critics maintained, however, that the proposal was directly aimed at Baugur which Davíð was, they said, obviously regarding as a political enemy.

By then, Baugur had bought another newspaper, the television station from Jón Ólafsson and a few radio stations, and controlled more than half of the media market.

In a much-softened version, parliament passed the media bill proposed by the government.

But then, for the first time in the history of the Icelandic Republic, in the summer of 2004, the president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, refused to sign the bill into law.

Davíð criticized this, pointing out that the director of the television station formerly owned by Jón Ólafsson and recently bought by Baugur, Sigurður G. Guðjónsson, had been Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson ’ s campaign manager in his first presidential campaign, and that Ólafur ’ s daughter was employed by Baugur.

However, Baugur enjoys considerable goodwill in Iceland because their shops offer lower prices than are to be found elsewhere, while their owners are seen as an embodiment of an Icelandic dream of rags-to-riches ; many also agreed that the media bill seemed to be a part of a political duel rather than an attempt to make general law.

The conclusion of a long struggle was that Davíð Oddsson withdrew the bill instead of holding a national referendum on it, as required by the Icelandic constitution if the president refuses to sign a bill into law.