The budget was approved and Althingi adjourned
Government will not meet until after the election, which will take place on November 30. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
The last parliamentary session of the term is over, the budget has been passed and the parliament has been officially adjourned.
Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson thanked the members of parliament for their cooperation in the legislative session.
He also encouraged the citizens to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections and all candidates for a fair election campaign.
The last day as Speaker of Alþingi
Birgir Ármannsson chaired his last meeting as Speaker of Alþingi today.
"The session that is now ending, the 155th in a series of legislative sessions, began in the usual way this fall. But in the middle of October, the political events that I mentioned in the beginning took place and led to the dissolution of the government and the dissolution of parliament. After that happened, the main focus of parliamentary work has been on discussing the budget, budget-related issues, and other issues that were not thought to be able to wait for a new parliament. Now the budget has been set and other issues that needed to be completed before the elections have been completed," Ármannsson said.
Photographs were taken.
He thanked the members of parliament, chairmen of parliamentary parties, vice-presidents, hearing representatives in the presiding committee and parliamentary committees that have come to deal with cases.
Many things have happened
Ármannsson took a seat in Althingi in 2003 and has been in parliament since then, or for 21 years and seven months. He will not run in the next election.
"During this time, many things have happened in the political life and the work of the parliament. Sometimes it has been good and sometimes bad. Sometimes conflicts have been fierce, but then there have been peaceful episodes in between. But in any case, I am very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the parliamentary work all this time. It is a great privilege to be given the voter's mandate to sit in Althingi and work towards your ideals and the nation's interests at this level," said Birgir.
Guðmundur Ingi Kristinsson, Member of Parliament for the People's Party, presented Ármannsson with a bouquet on behalf of the members of parliament at the end of the parliamentary session and thanked him for his good work.
Ármannsson got a bouquet.
