American/Canadian Trojan Horse

Why would Americans or Canadians need to have Icelandic citizenship to invest in Iceland? If their motive was to invest for profit then there are other ways to do achieve that goal other than obtaining citizenship. Sturla Sighvatsson, the director of Northern Lights Energy says that these people only want to invest in innovations and not in the fish industry or other natural resources. That may be true, but once these 10 people have Icelandic citizenship there would be nothing to stop them from later buying up whatever they wanted. These people have no connection to Iceland other than that they see it as an opportunity to make money. If these Americans and Canadians have access to so much money, then their allegiance lies with their investors and not with the people of Iceland. It would be a grave mistake to grant citizenship simply to receive investments. Ögmunder is right to state that Icelandic citizenship is not for sale, because if it were, the whole country would then be for sale, and nothing could be done to stop it.  The people of Iceland should beware of Americans or Canadians bearing gifts.

GTB

Segir ríkisborgararétt ekki til sölu

Athugasemdir

[Gunnar Th. Gunnarsson, 31.3.2011 kl. 09:50]

Europeans can invest here... but Americans and Canadians not. Is more danger of some but not others, by nationality?

[Birgir Guðjónsson (IP-tala skráð) 31.3.2011 kl. 10:44]

Gunnar.

Yes there is ! Europeans have much better laws, and are not as greedy !

[Gunnar Th. Gunnarsson, 31.3.2011 kl. 12:02]

What are Icelanders then? Not greedy?

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 31.3.2011 kl. 12:04]

I don't think there is any more danger concerning nationalities. The Europeans can be just as greedy as the rest of the world. The question that needs to be asked is why can Americans and Canadians invest in Europe but not in Iceland? I am quite sure that they can invest in Iceland but that there are some limitations concerning ownership. Giving citizenship to investors creates many more problems than it will solve, the biggest problem being that citizens are relatively free to purchase land and property. There are better ways to solve any investment issues than the one that puts the entire country up for sale.