The Danish Realm Is Cracking at the Seams
On March 26, elections to the Parliament of the Faroe Islands, a country with a population of 56,000 (Greenland’s 55,600), will be held. Six political parties will participate, five of which advocate independence from Denmark.
Following the 2022 general election, the government of the Faroe Islands is a tripartite coalition consisting of the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin), Republic (Tjóðveldi), and Progress (Framsókn). Led by Prime Minister Aksel V. Johannesen of the Social Democratic Party, this coalition holds the majority in the 33-seat Løgting (Parliament).
Of this number, the sole opponent of independence, the opposition Union Party, is represented in parliament by only seven members.
Whatever the outcome of next Thursday’s elections, pro-independence parties will be in the majority, and only the Union Party’s participation in the government coalition could temporarily delay the implementation of practical steps for the Faroe Islands’ transition to independence.
Its non-participation in the government coalition could pave the way for negotiations with Denmark on independence. As the publication cited below suggests, a rapid transition to independence is not, however, a priority for political forces in the Faroe Islands at the moment.
Given the popularity of Greenland’s independence, the secession of the two former colonies from the Danish Realm, possibly coordinated in timing, would spell its inglorious end and the transformation of Denmark into what it has long been—a tiny state on the isthmus between the Baltic and North Seas, insignificant even by the standards of the European Union.
Faroese Politicians Are Not Intimidated by the Geopolitical Drama in Greenland
Five out of six parties are going to the elections with the ambition of forming an independent Faroese state.
Parliamentary candidate for the conservative party People’s Party and former Minister of Fisheries Arni Skaale would like to see negotiations on independence begin in the next parliamentary term.
And the threats against Greenland do not scare him “at all”.
“No. Not at all. Not at all,” he emphasizes to Kristeligt Dagblad.
We Can Become an Independent Member of NATO
But you, like Greenland, are a nation of few inhabitants living in a strategically important security policy area. Aren’t you afraid of being pressured by major powers?
“It is likely that there are some who will try to pressure us. No one is immune to that, not even Denmark. As an independent state, we will be able to be an independent member of NATO, so I don’t see any major obstacle to that,” Arni Skaale replies.
However, Skaale does not want to cut ties with the kingdom completely, he emphasizes.
“I see the Faroe Islands as our own country, but we will of course cooperate with Denmark and the other NATO countries.”
Historyless and Tone-Deaf
The only party that does not support independence is the Union Party (Sambandspartiet). And here the statements of the independence movement are being dealt a hard blow.
“I think it is ahistorical, tone-deaf and a gamble with the security of the Faroe Islands,” says Anna Falkenberg, who has served in the Folketing for the party since 2022.
From her perspective, it is more important than ever to stand together in the realm.
“We need to develop the realm instead of dismantling it. The reason we want to be part of the realm is not money—the block grant doesn’t mean much to us. It’s about the fact that we are in a large realm where we can draw on experience in, for example, health and education,” she says.
If it were to reach the point of negotiating independence, it would be the third time in modern history that the archipelago has tried to approach the state of the Faroe Islands.
Complex Political Combinations
The incoming government in the Faroe Islands will want to modernize the kingdom, says associate professor.
The majority of the political parties in the Faroe Islands agree that the kingdom needs to be shaken up.
Five out of six of them believe that negotiations should be initiated with Denmark on the Faroe Islands’ path to becoming a state in its own right.
However, what the negotiation plan ends up looking like depends on who seizes power after the elections to the Løgting on March 26.
Right now, the conservative People’s Party (Fólkaflokkurin) is leading in the opinion polls.
It is one of the five parties working towards Faroese independence.
But that is why the party may well choose to enter into government with the bourgeois Union Party, which wants a different path.
This is explained by Heini í Skorini, an associate professor at the Department of History and Social Sciences at the University of the Faroe Islands.
“The Union Party also wants to update and modernize the Commonwealth, but they are against leaving the current Commonwealth and establishing a state,” he says and elaborates:
“So it depends a lot on how important the state issue is for the People’s Party.”
The Election Result Is Not Predetermined
Heini í Skorini explains that Faroese politics in recent years has been characterized by a fairly stable bloc politics, where the reds and the blues have taken turns being in power.
But in the current election campaign, everything is up in the air.
“It is very unpredictable, and the parties will not lock themselves into certain government constellations, so nothing is a given,” says the associate professor.
However, the question of the path to independence is not at the top of the list of topics that occupy the most space in the Faroese election campaign.
Instead, themes such as a long-term sustainable economy, a pressured housing market and increasing immigration from other countries are attracting attention.
“The housing problem in particular dominates,” says Arni Gregersen, a journalist at the Faroese radio station FM1.
“Young people who have gone abroad to study have difficulty returning home because they cannot find a place to live. The supply is too small,” he says.
Source:
- Sermitsiaq (in Danish)
- HSFO (in Danish)
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