Three talks are scheduled at a meeting of Politica, the Association of Politics Students at the University of Iceland, Thursday 12 November 2015 at 19.30 in Room O-101 in Oddi, the Social Sciences House, on “The Oddsson Era”: Mayor of Reykjavik in 1982–1991 and Prime Minister of Iceland in 1991–2004, David Oddsson was a dominant and powerful politician. The speakers are Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson who edited a festschrift on Oddsson’s sixtieth birthday in 2008, Dr Vilhjalmur Egilsson, President of Bifrost College and a Member of Parliament 1991–2003, and Ogmundur Jonasson, a Member of Parliament since 1995 and a government minister for the Left Greens in 2009–2013. Professor Gissurarson writes in his blog: “Much can be said about Oddsson’s Era, even if he was of course not the only person on stage. But it is interesting that Oddsson increased the support of the Independence Party in the three municipal elections which he fought in 1982, 1986 and 1990, irrespective of whether the Indepencence Party was in government or not. It is no less interesting that Oddsson has served longer than anyone else as Icelandic Prime Minister, both totally and continuously.”
Professor Gissurarson’s participation in the meeting forms a part of the joint project with AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”. Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister in 1979–1990, seen here with David Oddsson in 1991, was the protector of AECR.
