Being part of the

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...

, 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, and Danish citizens who are residents of the islands are not citizens of the EU.

General relations

The Constitution of Denmark 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 represents the Danish government on the Islands. The current Foreign Minister is

Jenis av Rana Jenis Kristian av Rana (born 7 January 1953 in Trongisvágur) is a Faroese medical practitioner and politician, serving as leader of the Centre Party since 2001. He served as minister of Foreign Affairs and Culture of the Faroe Islands from 201 ...

Diplomatic missions

* Brussels * Copenhagen * London * Moscow * Tel Aviv * Reykjavik

Membership in international organisations

* Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference * Food and Agriculture Organization (associate member) *

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO, French: ''Organisation maritime internationale'') is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference ...

(associate member) *

North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) is an "international body for co-operation on conservation, management and study of marine mammals in the North Atlantic." The NAMMCO Agreement was signed in Nuuk, Greenland on 9 April 1992 by No ...

* UNESCO (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 Islan ...

Treaties

* Free trade agreements with Norway, Switzerland and Turkey * Fisheries agreements with Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Russia * Hoyvík Agreement, 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 are not part of the European Union. 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 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 (other EU nationals living there remain EU citizens). The Faroe Islands are not part of the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

. 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 Roaming is a wireless telecommunication term typically used with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. It refers to a mobile phone being used outside the range of its native network and connecting to another available cell network. Technical ...

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 Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

and

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

. 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 in the 1970s (one of the first western countries to do so during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

), 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 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 in 2018. In 2022, the Faroese PM

Bárður á Steig Nielsen Bárður á Steig Nielsen (; born 16 April 1972) is a Faroese politician and businessman who serves as leader of the Union Party since 2015 and was prime minister from 2019 to 2022. He is also goalkeeper of the VÍF Vestmanna handball team and ...

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. An ...

US relations

The Foreign Minister

met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 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 had previously exerted pressure on the Islands not to let Huawei supply its 5G network infrastructure. In October, the Commander of

United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa (CNE-CNA), is the United States Navy component command of the United States European Command and United States Africa Command. Prior to 2020, CNE-CNA was previously referred to as United States Naval Forces ...

Robert P. Burke Robert Peter Burke (born 1962) is a retired United States Navy admiral who last served as the commander of United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Force Command Naples from 17 July 2020 to 27 June 2022. He served as Vice Chief o ...

, had also met with the Foreign Minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign Relations Of the Faroe Islands Government of the Faroe Islands