Icelandís Ambassador Has Country Buzzing With Possible Return to Politics by Gail Scott REYKJAVIK, IcelandóBeing in Iceland with Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson and Bryndis Schram is a cross between traveling with the leading candidate in a presidential campaign and the entourage of a hot celebrity couple. Everywhereóon the street and in the shops, in fancy restaurants and on the pieróeveryone wants to shake hands with Icelandís most popular political couple. Reporters call Kross Holl, their ìsummer hutî less than a half-hour drive from Reykjavik, on a daily basis, hoping to snag a hot quote from this eloquent political pro. To protect their privacy, he and his wife donít even have an answering machine, fax, cell phone or e-mail at home in Iceland. Here, everyone wants to know if ìthe Old Man,î as the younger members of his Social Democratic Party fondly call him, is going to raise their banner higher by coming home to re-enter Icelandic politics. Back in Washington, rumors have Hannibalsson, Icelandís envoy to the United States and one of Washingtonís most candid, clever and respected ambassador s, leaving this fall to become Icelandís ambassador to China. His wife has already begun learning Chinese. But ever since his Social Democratic Party faired better than expected in last Mayís elections, the pressure is on for him to run for Parliament and, once again, become his partyís leader. As the son of a politician who tried many other careers before succumbing to follow in his fatherís footsteps, Hannibalsson has been a leading political voice for more than 25 years in Iceland, even though he has yet to serve as his island countryís prime minister or president. He served as Icelandís foreign minister and finance minister under two prime ministers in the late 1980s until 1995. He was a Fulbright Scholar who has been a trawler fisherman, a college president and a newspaper journalist before he ever ran for a seat in Parliament. He became Icelandís ambassador to Washington in early 1998, his first diplomatic post. While head of his countryís foreign affairs department from 1988 to 1995, Hannibalsson led the international community to accept the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In January 1991, when the Soviets were threatening to seize the Lithuanian Parliament just as Mikhail Gorbachev was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, it was Hannibalsson who stood behind the barricades alongside the embattled Lithuanians aspiring to be free. Today, in independent Vilnius, Lithuania, only one stone of that original barricade remains. Its inscription reads, ìFor Iceland Which Dared When Others Remained Silent.î This nervy politician is a hero to Croatians as well. Also back in 1991, he was the first foreign minister in the world to recognize Croatia as a sovereign nation. As Icelandís finance minister from 1987 to 1988, Hannibalsson himself admitted, ìI was a revolutionary. I reformed taxes, abolished state monopolies and, as foreign minister, negotiated with the European Union.î He stopped to smile, then added, ìI was hugely controversial and the most unpopular politician in the land. But now, they seem to miss me.î Today, the 63-year-old ambassador is still the unofficial visionary of Icelandís Social Democratic Party. In a 2000 poll, he was voted the most significant politician in the millennium only behind Icelandís 19th-century father of independence, Jon Sigurdsson. So is the spry grandfather ready to run again? ìI hope not,î said Schram, his dramatic and popular wife. ìBeing married to a politician messes up everything.î She should know. Each time he campaigned around the clock or flew all over the world as Icelandís foreign minister, she reared their four children (they now have five grandchildren) and still managed her own highly powerful careers on the stage and in television. As a young woman, she was Icelandís prima ballerina and Miss Iceland. Early this fall she finished her latest project, an Icelandic television cooking program showcasing different European cuisines for Europeís popular TV cooking series, ìReady, Steady, Cook.î A national celebrity herself with a book written about her, she was recently asked in an interview on Icelandic television whether her husband would be giving up diplomacy to run next May. ìCut this crap about Jon Baldvin coming back into politics,î she said colorfully. The ambassadoróback in Washington before Labor Day to meet a November deadline on his predictably controversial memoirs titled ìHoneymoonîófirst heard about what his outspoken wife of 44 years had just said when an old friend called from Reykjavik. ìYes,î he said and then laughed, ìBryndis wonít allow it!î The ambassador, however, noted, ìPolitics is unavoidable if you want to change things. Itís either money or power that make change, and since I donít have money, I choose politics. After all, Iceland was a semi-Sovietized country with an inclusive government ruled by special interestsóship owners, the farmers and business lobbiesóall seeking power through politics, a closed society.î As far as being an ambassador in the No. 1 post in the world, the United States, Hannibalsson doesnít think of himself as powerful. ìThe role of an ambassador is to take care of the nationís vital interests vis-a-vis other countries, in my case, the defense relationship between Iceland and the U.S. My second priority is trade and U.S. investments in Iceland.î Talk to other leading Icelanders (or Islanders, as they like to be called) and you know that Hannibalsson is still a political powerhouse. ìJon Baldvin is the most impressive politician we have had. I donít know why he quit,î said Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Icelandís foremost composer and conductor who is currently a guest professor at Brown University. ìHe is very important for me and for Iceland.î Ragnar Arnalds, long-time opposition leader of the Reformed Communist Party who was also once finance minister and is now a leading Icelandic playwright, agreed: ìHe went out of politics too soon. It is quite clear that Jon Baldvin is one of the best.î Of course, these political rivals, who are also old school chums of more than 35 years, do not agree on everything. ìJon Baldvin is very pro-EU and I am of the opposite view. EU membership would change the society of Iceland,î Arnalds said vigorously. ìWe try not to argue all the time,î he added. ìWe sat together in school and have been good friends ever since, even though we are on opposite [political] sides.î It seemed that everyone from our Icelandair flight attendants to a favorite furrier is a fan of Hannibalsson, regardless of whether or not they happen to agree with his politics. ìMost people in Iceland would miss him if he didnít run,î said Eggert Johannsson, Icelandís foremost furrier who first introduced ìocean furî (chic silk-lined jackets made with salmon or perch skin) to the Washington area. ìThere are very few characters [in politics], and he is a very convincing personalityóvery popular.î Johanna Sigthorsdothir, a national reporter, concurred: ìHe is still a big name in politics.î Sigthorsdothir has just returned from Landsmot, a week-long event held every other year to which 10,000 Icelanders travel on horseback to camp out and choose the best Icelandic horses out of the more than 70,000 on the island. Hannibalsson left hot and humid Washington just in time to also ride to Landsmotís mid-July festivities. ìMost of the people want Jon Baldvin back whether they are conservative or liberal,î Sigthorsdothir added. ìHe is always in the discussion. As prime minister, why not? Bryndis too.î Agnes Bragadottir, news editor of the leading Icelandic newspaper, Morgunbladid, has known Hannibalsson and Schram since 1975 when, as founder and headmaster of a regional college, he hired her to teach. ìHe is an encyclopedia,î testified the journalist. ìTheir openness is phenomenal,î she added. ìItís not Icelandic, itís internationalótheir lack of prejudice.î On his second day as foreign minister, Hannibalsson made sure his island country would become more open to others. He held a press conference welcoming American troops posted in Iceland to leave what he called their ìGuantanamo Bayî (the ambassadorís nickname for the Keflavik Naval Air Station). ìBe our guests. Go anywhere you want.î This new nondiscrimination policy not only allowed but encouraged black and white Americans to leave their fenced-in base, without special hard-to-get permits, for the first time since Americans were stationed in Iceland during World War II. ìEveryone thought I would be a dead man in politics the day after,î the ambassador recalled, ìbut absolutely nothing happened Ö the Americans went mountain c limbing, enjoyed the bars and restaurants, dances and, in fact, acted relatively better than our own natives.î But according to Bragadottir, so many years of high visibility and success have created ìanimosity, jealousyî for Hannibalsson and his wife. ìThey have affected everybody and many people hate them [for that], hate them like hell,î she reported sadly. ì[Icelanders] donít want to praise him, but they practically all agree that he did wonders for the country.î The ambassadorís wife admits that she finds it hard to return to Iceland and be under such intense scrutiny. ìFor us, it is very public here.î This engaging and lively hostess admitted that she would like to travel around the country and stay in Icelandís farmhouse bed and breakfasts with her American guests, but ìwe tried it once; it was no vacation. We had to stay up and talk with our hosts and other guests half the night. We got no rest. ìAt the peak of Jon Baldvinís career as foreign minister, we didnít have any privacy. One time they even went through our trash,î Schram recalled. ìSo we would stay away, be completely alone, and then everyone asks, ëWhatís wrong with those people?íî As we leave and drive across the moonscape that would take us to Icelandís famous Blue Lagoon and Reykjavikís contemporary airport, Schram reminded us, ìLook at this land. Thatís why you Americans sent your astronauts here to train for landing on the moon.î In addition, Hannibalsson wants Americans to remember that his island, with its ìclean, geothermal energyî (volcanic boiling hot water and steam from under the surface), makes modern Iceland a wonderful place to live ìnaturally.î Added the ambassador: ìWe have gone from the 13th century to the 20th in seven years. My grandmother didnít have running water or electricity. Now Ö two-thirdís of the countryís energy use [relies] on clean and renewable energy mostly from geothermal plants, the only country in the world to do so.î As we get in line for airport security, Hannibalsson whispers his final comment: ìWe are leaving Washington this fall to go to Finland. We are supposed to be in Helsinki by Nov. 1.î Heís beaming. ìI can be in touch with the Baltics and the Nordics again.î But Schram, slightly disappointed, her dreams of being posted next in China dashed, confided, ìAfter that, it will be time to retire from diplomacy, and then, maybe, heíll run again.î Gail Scott, author of ìDiplomatic Dance: The New Embassy Life in America,î is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.