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Björk, the queen of Icelandic music, has weighed into the dispute over a controversial foreign investment in Iceland's geothermal energy industry that threatens to destabilise the country's fragile coalition government.
The singer, known for her distinctive voice and eccentric costumes, is spearheading a campaign against the $417m (€322m, £272m) takeover of an Icelandic power company by Magma Energy of Canada in the biggest deal of its kind since the country's 2008 banking crisis.
Björk told the Financial Times that geothermal energy, one of Iceland's most valuable natural resources, should be kept in public hands and called for the government to overturn the sale of HS Orka, which produces nearly a 10th of Icelandic power.
"This deal smells like the leftovers from the corruption that brought us the bank crash," she said in an e-mail, ahead of a press conference in Reykjavik on Monday.
Magma, a Vancouver-based geothermal power company, has been building its stake in HS Orka, the largest privately owned Icelandic energy producer, for the past 12 months and agreed in May to increase its holding to 98.5 per cent.
There is no suggestion Magma has done anything illegal. But the deal has caused an outcry against the perceived fire sale of natural resources and exposed divisions within the centre-left government, which has so far approved the takeover in spite of opposition from some coalition members.
Björk, arguably Iceland's best-known cultural export, said the country should use its geothermal expertise - resulting from its position atop one of the world's most active geological faults - to help forge a new "relationship between nature and technology" rather than becoming "third world slaves" by selling assets.
Advocates of the Magma deal say foreign capital is crucial to develop the geothermal sector at a time when domestic funding is scarce. Iceland is hoping to drive its economic recovery by attracting energy-intensive businesses such as aluminium smelters and data centres with the prospect of cheap geothermal power.
Under the terms of the takeover, due for completion this month, Magma would have the right to exploit geothermal resources on the Reykjanes peninsula, south-west of Reykjavik, for the next 65 years, with the option of a further 65.
Magma told the FT it was open to reducing the time period and also to selling a stake of up 25 per cent to Icelandic pension funds. It said it was planning to invest $560m over the next six years to more than double generating capacity.
Björk is continuing a family tradition of political activism: her father is a union leader and her mother once went on hunger strike in protest against a controversial hydro-electric project.
- I'm hoping the nation and its government will decide to cancel this deal. Then I can, hopefully, go back to writing music, she said.
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