Provinces agree compromise on Iceland

Finance minister Wouter Bos and local government officials are to meet on Tuesday or Wednesday to work out a strategy to try to recover millions of euros feared lost in the Icelandic bank collapse.

The province of Noord-Holland, which had €78m in Iceland’s Landsbanki bank, had been on a collision course with Bos, accusing him of only being out to protect savers’ money.
Bos had told the local councils to stop taking individual action to recover their cash, which is not protected by the government’s guarantee of €100,000 for savers.
He told the local councils that their action could damage his moves to recoup €1.6bn of money lost by savers, the minister said.
The truce was brokered by officials from Groningen province.