Iceland Debt 冰島債務

By Dominic Hughes, Brussels

媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。

Background: 近日冰島國會決定將賠償由于冰島銀行2008年破產，而對其英國和荷蘭儲戶造成的巨額存款損失。此舉受到冰島民眾的強烈抗議，所以冰島總統拒絕簽署這項賠償法案， 并建議由公眾投票的方式來做此決定。英國和荷蘭政府對這個消息感到極為震驚和不滿。

Icelandic MPs are meant to be enjoying a lengthy Christmas break - instead they've been summoned back to Parliament to discuss the fallout of President Olafur Grimsson's refusal to sign a bill allowing more than $5bn to be paid to the British and Dutch governments.

A quarter of the population had signed a petition calling for him to withhold his signature.

The money was meant to compensate the two governments after they bailed out savers put at risk when the online Icesave bank collapsed in 2008.

Now a public referendum will be held, possibly next month.

But ministers have warned Iceland's bid to join the EU could be damaged, and the country risks losing desperately needed financial aid.

There's also the danger of a constitutional crisis - the Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said she wasn't convinced his actions were legal.

Meanwhile, frantic diplomatic efforts have been made to try and build bridges with both the British and Dutch governments and other Nordic countries, who had made an agreement on refunding the compensation a condition of further aid payments.