Almost a quarter of voters in Iceland have signed a petition against plans to repay money lost by foreigners when an Icelandic online bank collapsed¹.

冰岛将近四分之一的选民签署一项反对偿还因在线银行破产而造成外国客户损失的请愿书。

The Icesave online bank collapsed in October 2008

The petition请愿，祈求 urges the president to veto否决，禁止 the bill that allows the move, and calls for a referendum公民投票，全民投票 on the issue.

Iceland's parliament has approved the plans to reimburse赔偿，偿还 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn) lost by Dutch and British savers when the Icesave scheme failed in 2008.

Many taxpayers³ say they are being made to pay for the bank's mistakes.

The compensation amounts to相当于，总计 some 12,000 euros for each citizen on the island nation of 320,000.

Staggering payments

A poll taken in August suggested that 70% of Icelanders were against the deal, which was approved by Parliament earlier this week.

More than 56,000 - about 23% of Iceland's voters - signed the petition urging President Olaf Ragnar Grimsson not to sign the bill.

Magnus Arni Skulason, one of the organisers of the petition, compared the repayment⁴ to financing the country's health service.

"We were able to represent our arguments to the president, and also on the occasion we handed over a petition to ask the president to reject the current Icesave bill," he told the BBC.

"The interest rate on the Icesave agreement for Iceland is like running the National Health Service of Iceland for six months."

The Icelandic government had threatened to resign if the deal was rejected by MPs.

"Approving the bill is the better option and will avoid even more economic damage," Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson said during the debate.

Icesave - the internet arm of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which offered high interest rates - failed in October 2008.

An original agreement negotiated with the British and Dutch governments was approved in August.

But subsequent amendments修正案 negotiated by the prime minister were rejected in both countries, forcing a fresh vote.

Under the new deal the money - which represents 40% of the country's GDP - will be repaid gradually, staggered until 2024.