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Faroe - History

The Faroe Islands were one of the last territories on the planet to be discovered and populated. The first settlers are said to have been Irish monks who arrived in the year 700 and something, there are no signs of people having lived here before that so the birds had it to themselves. Norsemen arrived in the early 800's. For the first 200 years or so Faroes was a free country but it then came under foreign power - first Norway and then Denmark.

During the Second World War, when the Germans occupied Denmark, Faroes helped feed Britain by sailing there with fish; they sailed under the new Faroese flag, which the British officially recognised. There had been a strong movement for independence for many years and in 1946 a referendum was held and the majority chose independence. This caused concern in Denmark and the Danish government dissolved the Parliament. A new Parliament was elected in which there was not a majority for independence. In 1948 the Danish Parliament passed the Home Rule Act making Faroes a self-governing state inside the Danish Kingdom. The Act recognised the Faroese flag and the Faroese language.

In recent times, the number of people wanting independence for their nation has increased considerably and in 1998 the Parliamentary elections resulted in a coalition taking power whose main promise was to set in motion a process towards full sovereignty. That process is now underway.

As part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands are members or co-signatories to most international conventions, agreements and organisations.

The Faroe Islands are, however, not members of the European Union.

The Faroese flag, which was first officially recognised during the 2nd World War, now appears to be heading towards being recognised as the flag of a sovereign nation.

A HISTORICAL DAY

The negotiations between the Danish and the Faroese governments about the establishment of a sovereign Faroese state, started Friday the 17th of March with these opening remarks of the Faroese Prime Minister

The Government of the Faroe Islands has initiated an independence process with the aim of establishing a new constitutional status for the Faroe Islands as a sovereign state, in continued cooperation with Denmark. Here is an overview of the process

The Honourable Høgni Hoydal, Deputy Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, is charged with guiding the nation through its historic, independence process. In this article, he delineates his vision for an independent Faroe Islands and briefly addresses the full spectrum of issues involved.

In April 2004 a referendum took place in Faroes. The Faroese made electoral history with a record general election turnout of 91.1% and a dead-heat on the major topic of the day - whether the Faroes should remain part of the Kingdom of Denmark or declare independence. The opposition won 51.1% of the vote, the ruling coalition 48.9% but allocation of the supplementary seats under the multi-member system left the two blocks even on 16 seats each. The situation is completely open with a balance in terms of seats between left and right, between separation and devolution, the two axes in Faroese politics, as the outgoing prime minister, Anfinn Kallsberg, pointed out. The main winner was Sambandspartiet (Unionists), now the largest party with 26.0%, a gain of 8% since the last election four years ago. The right wing party is in favour of remaining part of Denmark.

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