Valgerður Sverrisdóttir (born 23 March 1950) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic politician. She was a member of the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

(Iceland's parliament) for the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

for the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

constituency starting in 1987 and was Chairman of the Progressive Party parliamentary group from 1995 to 1999,

Minister of Industry and Commerce A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

from 1999 to 2006, and Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 2004 to 2005.CV at Althing website
She was

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...

from 15 June 2006 to 24 May 2007.List of former foreign ministers of Iceland
Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. She has been a member of the Progressive Party's central committee since 1983.

Controversy

In 2006, Árni Finnsson, chairman of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association, accused Valgerður Sverrisdóttir of corruption for failing to reveal details of a report showing that the area on which the Kárahnjúkavirkjun dam was being built had

active fault An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...

s in the earth, while she was Minister of Industry and Commerce. Geophysicist Grímur Björnsson revealed on the television news programme Kastljós that a report he had prepared, criticizing the placement of the Kárahnjúkar dam, had been stamped as confidential by his superior at the time. Minister of Industry Valgerður Sverrisdóttir had subsequently failed to reveal the details of the report to parliament, as she was obliged to do. Valgerður Sverrisdóttir rejected all accusations, claiming the controversy was a last-ditch effort on behalf of the opposition to delay the flooding of the

Hálslón Reservoir The Hálslón Reservoir () is a storage reservoir in Eastern Iceland on the Jökulsá á Dal River. The reservoir stores water for use in hydroelectricity production with the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant. The reservoir was formed by three differ ...

. The flooding of the reservoir, which was set to take place at the end of September of the same year, subsequently submerged a large section of the Icelandic highlands.http://savingiceland.puscii.nl/?p=556&language=en at Saving Island

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sverrisdottir, Valgedur 1950 births Living people Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Female foreign ministers Valgerdur Sverrisdottir Female defence ministers