Being part of the
Kingdom of Denmark, the foreign relations of Faroe Islands are handled in cooperation with the Danish government and Government of Faroe Islands.
Unlike Denmark, Faroe Islands is not a part of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, and Danish citizens who are residents of the islands are not
citizens of the EU.
General relations
The
Constitution of Denmark
The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Riges Grundlov), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution ( da, Grundloven, fo, Grundlógin, kl, Tunngaviusumik inatsit), is the c ...
states that the Danish government handles in principle all foreign and security relations for the Kingdom. However, the Foreign Policy Act of 2005 allows the Islands to make agreements when they relate solely to matters within the powers of the Islands' government.
The
High Commission of Denmark in the Faroe Islands
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift ...
represents the Danish government on the Islands. The current Foreign Minister is
Jenis av Rana.
Diplomatic missions
* Brussels
* Copenhagen
* London
* Moscow
* Tel Aviv
*
Reykjavik
Membership in international organisations
*
Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference
The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) was established in 1991 as a forum for political dialogue between parliamentarians from the Baltic Sea Region. BSPC aims at raising awareness and opinion on issues of current political interest and ...
*
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
(associate member)
*
International Maritime Organization (associate member)
*
North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission
*
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
(associate member)
*
West Nordic Council
The West Nordic Council ( da, Vestnordisk Råd, kl, Nunat Avannarliit Killiit Siunnersuisoqatigiiffiat, fo, Útnorðurráðið, is, Vestnorræna ráðið) is a cooperation forum of the parliaments and governments of Greenland, the Faroe Islands ...
Treaties
* Free trade agreements with Norway, Switzerland and Turkey
* Fisheries agreements with Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Russia
*
Hoyvík Agreement
The Hoyvík Agreement is a free trade agreement between the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
History
The agreement was signed 31 August 2005 in the town of Hoyvík in the Faroe Islands. The Faroese Løgting ratified the agreement on 2 May 2006 and th ...
, guaranteeing full freedom of movement for goods, services, capital and people between the Faroes and Iceland.
EU relations
As explicitly asserted by both
Rome treaties, the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
are not part of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. This means that the
free movement of goods, people, capital and services and other directives by the EU do not apply between it and the Faroe Islands.
A protocol to the treaty of accession of
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
to the European Communities stipulates that Danish nationals residing in the Faroe Islands are not to be considered as Danish nationals within the meaning of the treaties. Hence, Danish people living in the Faroes are not
citizens of the European Union
European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...
(other EU nationals living there remain EU citizens).
The Faroe Islands are not part of the
Schengen Area. However, persons travelling between the Faroe Islands and the Schengen Area are not subject to border controls, although there may be identity checks when checking in for flights.
Charges for international services such as phone
roaming and
bank transfers are much higher than inside the EU.
EU boycott against the Faroe Islands
In July 2013 EU imposed sanctions on the Faroe Islands due to a dispute over the fishing quota of
herring and
mackerel. The boycott, which started on 28 August 2013, banned Faroese vessels carrying herring or mackerel from all EU ports, including Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The Faroe Islands could no longer export herring or mackerel to EU countries. The boycott was lifted on 20 August 2014 after a breakthrough in negotiations which saw the Faroese share of the total mackerel quota jump from 4.62% to 12.6%.
Russia relations
The Islands reached a fisheries agreement with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in the 1970s (one of the first western countries to do so during the
Cold War), and Russia has remained a major export market in the post-Soviet era.
The tensions between the EU and Russia following the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...
did not affect this trade.
In 2015 the Islands opened a diplomatic mission in Moscow, and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the
Eurasian Economic Union
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU)EAEU is the acronym used on thorganisation's website However, many media outlets use the acronym EEU. is an economic union of some post-Soviet states located in Eurasia. The Treaty on the Eurasian Econo ...
in 2018.
In 2022, the Faroese PM
Bárður á Steig Nielsen condemned the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
.
US relations
The Foreign Minister
Jenis av Rana met US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo
Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...
in Copenhagen on July 22, 2020.
On November 28th, the Islands signed a partnership declaration with the United States.
The US ambassador to Denmark
Carla Sands
Carla J. Sands (née Herd; born October 13, 1960) is an American businesswoman who is chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group. During the Trump administration (2017–21) she was U.S. ambassador to Denmark.
A former chiropractor, socialite, ...
had previously exerted pressure on the Islands not to let
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
supply its
5G network infrastructure.
In October, the Commander of
United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa,
Robert P. Burke, had also met with the Foreign Minister.
See also
*
Faroese independence movement
The Faroese independence movement ( fo, Føroyska Tjóðskaparrørslan), or the Faroese national movement (), is a political movement which seeks the establishment of the Faroe Islands as a sovereign state outside Denmark. Reasons for complete a ...
*
Politics of the Faroe Islands
The politics of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous country () of the Kingdom of Denmark, function within the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic dependency, whereby the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands is the head of govern ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign Relations Of the Faroe Islands
Government of the Faroe Islands