| �land consists of a group of about 20,000 islands in the Baltic
between Sweden and Finland. The residents are Swedish speaking, and
are self-governing in domestic matters. The islands are demilitarized
according to a treaty signed by (if I remember correctly) Russia,
Great Britain, and perhaps Sweden. The treaty dates from the time of
the Crimean war. During the 1920's, the residents campaigned to
make the islands part of Sweden, but the League of Nations decided
to keep them associated with Finland -- after granting them domestic
autonomy.
It might be claimed that the existance of �land and the neutrality of
Sweden are the keys to the independence of Finland. (Finland is the
only country that opposed the Soviet Union in World War II that is not
a client state. Excepting Turkey, it is the only European country with
an extensive boarder on the Soviet Union that is not a client state.)
It's a wonderful place for a vacation (four hours by ferry boat from
Stockholm).
Martin.
|
| From: [email protected] (TERVI| MARKO J)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Date: 9 Nov 92 11:23:01 GMT
Sender: [email protected] (Uutis Ankka)
Organization: University of Helsinki, Computing Centre
Some facts about Aland, as it seems to be a hot topic for some. It's
an autonomous archipelago off the south-west coast of Finland. It's
ethnically almost completely Swedish. There are only 25 000
inhabitants, and belonging to Finland, which has 5 000 000 people
(over 90% of which are Finns), the Aland people have always been
worried about maintaining their identity. Therefore they have created
legal restrictions for the mainland people conserning political rights
and right to own property i.e. houses in Aland.
Now that Finland is hoping to join the European Community these
restrictions have popped up in the political discussion, because in
the EC all countries are supposed to guarantee certain rights to the
citizens of other member countries. As of now, Aland is not
guaranteeing those rights even to its non Alandic-Finnish residents.
Some have suggested, that Aland could stay outside EC even if the
mainland joined (compare Faroe islands - Denmark). There have also
been suggestions that Aland is maybe too cautious about Finnish
influence on its soil. ...
|
| From: [email protected] (HOLMAN EUGENE)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Status of �land
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 07:44:16 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki, Computing Centre
�land does have its own flag - a tricolor Scandinavian cross-type flag
like the Norwegian one, but with the dominant color Swedish light
blue, and a red cross with a yellow outline.
Cars registered in �land have a distinct license plate.
There was a minor flap a year or two ago when �land tried to issue its
own currency, the daler. The Finnish bank soon put a stop to that.
The international agreements according to which the �land Islands are
demilitarized have recently been the object of some discussion in
Finland.
With best regards,
Eugene Holman
University of Helsinki
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Status of �landdir/reg
Date: 19 Oct 93 12:37:29 EET
Organization: University of Helsinki
Here some facts about �land. There are 23 000 with Swedish and 1 100
with Finnish as mother-tounge.
The �land islands form an autonomous, demilitarized and unilingually
Swedish province of Finland. The �land islands consists of more than
6500 islands. Ninty percent live on the largest island "Fasta �land"
and of these more than 40% in the only town, Mariehamn.
The demilitarization of �land dates back to the Peace of Paris in 1865
after the Crimean war and an unilateral undertaking on the part of
Russia. In 1921 the �land islands were also neutralized. After the
Finnish declaration of independence from Russia in 1917, the population
of the �land islands sought re-unification with Sweden. The question
was brought before the council of the League of Nations, which in 1921
recommended that Finland should have sovereignty over the islands but
that special guarantees on the preservation of the Swedish language and
culture should be provided. The Council urged Finland and Sweden to
negotiate about the issues and stated that the Council would guarantee
any solution reached. This lead to the first autonomy act in 1922 which
was revised in 1951 and again in 1993.
The population of �land is represented by the "Landsting", the regional
parlament. It consists of 30 members, elected every 4 years. The
Landsting appoints the "Landskapsstyrelsen", the Goverment. The
autonomy Act specifies the areas in which the Parliament has the right
to pass laws. The most important sectors are: education and culture,
health and medical services, the promotion of industry, internal
communications, local district administration the police service,
social well-fare, rent lagislation, postal and radio services and
certain sectors of alcohol legislation. In other fields of legislation
the laws of Finland apply in �land.
�land can use its own flag on merchant ships and has its own postage
stamps. There is a regional �land citizenship. Finnish citizens can
aquire regional citizenship after five years of continuous residence in
�land. Regional citizenship is a prerequisite to own and hold real
estate and to carry out buisness. It was a prerequisite for voting and
standing for elections, but the new act makes it possible for citizens
from the Nordic countries to vote and be elected, even if they lack
regional citizenship.
As regards language, �land is exeptional in Finland, because the
principle is territorial, which means that the territory is Swedish,
regardless of the inhabitants use of language (compare Quebec, Belgium,
etc). In other parts of Finland the status of the languages are defined
on the basis of a census avery 10th year, which means that outside
�land there are at the moment 399 monolingual Finnish-speaking
municipalities, 17 bilingual with Finnish majority, 22 bilingual with
Swedish majority and 10 monolingual Swedish municipalities.
Since the system of �land is different there arises the problem of "the
minority within the minority", a well known problem when the principle
of territory is used. Up till now, the problem has not been burning,
since the amount of Finnish-speakers is small. But it is a potential
problem and will probably be taken up in the negotiations with the EC,
as well as the laws about landowning. Also, the meaning of the the
demilitarized status has been discussed lately.
|
| HELSINKI, Sept 8 (Reuter) - Finland's province of Aaland plans to hold
its own advisory referendum on November 20 on whether to join the
European Union next year, a local official said on Monday.
The partly autonomous Aaland, a cluster of 6,500 islands and rocky
reefs situated between the Finnish mainland and Sweden, can decide to
stay outside the Union even if Finland joins.
However, it cannot become a member if Finland decides to stay outside.
Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari last Friday cleared the referendum
plans of the province by not vetoing the proposal by the local
government.
The islanders plan to hold their referendum after the October 16
referendum in Finland and also after the November 13 referendum in
nearby Sweden, reflecting the close cultural and historical ties
between Sweden and the Swedish-speaking islands.
Finland plans to join the Union in 1995, together with Norway, Austria
and Sweden, provided membership is approved by the referendum and by
parliament.
A referendum on Aaland would be advisory like the one for the whole of
Finland. As Finnish citizens, the islanders would also be eligible to
vote in the national referendum.
But the referendum on Aaland will only be held if Finland says "yes" to
membership on October 16.
It is the local parliament, Lagtinget, which will have the final say on
Aaland's membership. A two thirds majority is required in the 30-seat
legislature.
When Helsinki negotiated its accession agreement with Brussels this
spring, Aaland got what it wanted and its demilitarised and autonomous
status will not change even if it should join the EU.
The Union also agreed to allow passenger ferries travelling to and from
Aaland to continue with tax-free sales of alcohol and other goods -- of
vital importance for the island economy which heavily depends on
tourism.
The scenic islands, with a population of 25,000, have restrictions on
property ownership as well as other rules to safeguard their
Swedish-speaking culture.
Aaland also wants a seat in the European Parliament, an idea which
Helsinki opposes, and is arguing with Finland for control of its own
taxation.
Transmitted: 94-09-19 09:14:41 EDT
|
| From: [email protected] (Kari Yli-Kuha)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Date: 04 Jun 1996 14:38:05 +0300
Organization: SQ Consulting Ltd., Tampere, Finland
Sender: [email protected]
I'll try to make a short summary of events the way I see them
(correct me if you find something wrong)
Act 1: Russian revolution 1917 and Finland's declaration of independence.
The first meeting in a school in �land where the people expressed
their wish to be rejoined to Sweden.
Act 2: Civil war in Finland touches �land in 1918, Swedish troops intervene
to protect the �land people - some german troops arrive after which
all troops withdraw leaving �land intact. An unrecognized landstinget
is formed in �land.
Act 3: 1919 - three representatives from �land bring the issue of �land
in Paris peace negotiations.
Act 4: 1920 the civil war is over and situation in Finland stabilized and
Finland recognized as an independent state. A law of �land's
selfdetermination is passed in Finland to persuade �landers to
remain a part of Finland.
Act 5: the �landers, obviously unconvinced about the stability and
viability of the newly born Finnish state, still wish to join
Sweden; they negotiate with the Swedes and the leaders Julius
Sundblom and Carl Bj�rkman are arrested accused of treason.
As a consequence Great Britain brings the �land issue into
League of Nations which appoints a committee to study the
case and make a proposition.
Act 6: After long negotiations the committee presents its proposition
to the League of Nations in 1921 which accepts it. The agreement
which is signed by 10 states guarantees �landers the autonomy and
preservation of language and culture under Finnish sovereignty.
�land is granted permanent representation (one seat) in the
Finnish parliament.
Act 7: 1922 the law of self determination is applied and Julius Sundman
is elected as the chairman of �land's landstinget.
The case is closed.
In the end the key issue was whether the �landers _really_ wanted to
become Swedish or remain under Finnish sovereignty with wide autonomy.
I've no documents handy to confirm my view but the opinion which is
more or less accepted in Finland is that the �landers themselves
chose the latter alternative. This is, of course, not so much
emphasized in the Swedish view and official history books but, rather,
the earlier wishes which were made at the time when the situation in
Finland still was unstabilized.
regards,
--
/Kari (male, btw.)
--
|