The decision by Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir to stand down so as to run as a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential electiob has triggered a wholesale reshuffle within Iceland’s coalition government, including a change at the ministry responsible for fisheries.
This government, now in its second term and polling badly, is a coalition of the conservative Independence and Progressive parties, and the Left-Green Alliance that hasn’t always been a confortable co-existence and the new line-up bears all the hallmarks of some behind-the-scenes horse trading.
The Prime Minister’s role goes to Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson for the third time – having previously stepped down from this and other ministerial roles in the past due to a variety of scandals.
The new Minister of Food, Fisheries and Agriculture is Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir, replacing Svandís Svavarsdóttir, who had been in this post since 2021.
So while the Left-Green Alliance gets to hold on the key role of fisheries, the troublesome outgoing minister who has dared to rattle the cage of the whaling industry with its strong Independence party connections, has been shunted aside to a new role as Minister of Infrastructure.
