"It was time to change"
Katrín Jakobsdóttir says that her experience in politics and as Prime Minister will be useful if she is elected as President. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir was a guest of Kristján Kristjánsson on the morning program Sprengisandur at Bylgjan radio. In the program, she was asked about her resignation as Prime Minister and why she decided to leave Parliament.
“I had made the decision earlier this winter that I would not run in the next parliamentary elections. I entered this party politics in 2002 when I was elected chairman of the youth movement of the Left-Greens and took a seat here on the Reykjavik Party-list, number 17 if I remember correctly, so it’s been 22 years now and I guess you’ll find it inside yourself that somehow it was time to change, and then I think it’s better to just accept it.”
All politicians have their time
Jakobsdóttir describes politics as a great game that takes over life.
“One is in this fight. I have naturally been given a unique privilege, both to serve as Minister of Education and Culture in the post-financial crash period and to serve as Prime Minister for six and a half years.”
She adds that the tasks were ‘extensive’ and not necessarily the ones she asked for.
“The pandemic for two years is probably the biggest project I’ve ever had to deal with. The volcanic eruptions on Reykjanes peninsula and of course other major events we’ve had to deal with and of course just these regular projects, wage agreements on the labor market and so on.
So these have been big projects and it’s just that every politician has his time and I just felt that my time had come.”
Used Easter to come to a conclusion
Jakobsdóttir also says she did not intend to pay any particular attention to the President’s Office when it became clear that Guðni Th. Jóhannesson would not be continuing his tenure.
“But of course, I’ve been encouraged by all kinds of good people, naturally, and then this thought started to come to me as spring approached.”
She says that it was only around Easter that she took the time to consider the change and discuss it with her family, as she had been too busy with other big projects until that break.
Different roles
When asked why she wants to become president and leave the powerful office as prime minister, Jakobsdóttir replies that it is a different kind of office.
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“For me, this office has always been important, not because it has so much power, but because it has influence. The President of Iceland, I believe, should be dealing with the big issues, not just in Iceland but in the world.
It has been more and more apparent to me in the office I have held in the past years that there are big lines of conflict in the world when it comes to, for instance, increasing polarization of discourse in societies. Democracy, which I believe is this basic value that Icelandic society is built upon, is in many places under attack. The same can be said about people's rights and the rule of law, these are the basic values that Icelandic society is supposed to build upon.”
She says that the president's influence is great and that it is different from the prime minister's.
“As we know, ministers and MPs are more involved in making money, as we call it, but the President can of course make a big impact. He has a very important role, to my knowledge, to protect Iceland’s interests internationally, and he has a role, of course, to ensure that there is a functioning government in Iceland if something happens in the political system. I believe that the experience I have gained in these years can be used in this post.”
