Yearbook 2010
Faroe Islands. In March the Lagtinget presented a proposal for a new constitution for the Faroe Islands, where it was mentioned, among other things, that all power lies with the people of the Faroe Islands. At the same time, the national community was not mentioned with Denmark. The Danish government reacted, saying that such a law would contravene Denmark’s constitution and mean that the Faroe Islands in practice left the national community.
There was also internal disagreement about the proposal in the Faroese Lagtinget, and teammate Kaj Leo Johannesen from the right-wing Unionist Party declared during the summer that the proposal would not go through as long as he was a layman (head of government). However, the Leftist Party Republicans promised to push the issue forward.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the two letter abbreviation of FO stands for the country of Faroe Islands in geography.
In June, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lene Espersen visited the Faroe Islands and explained that the island should not be allowed to resume catching larger whales for a ten-year period. The reaction was sharp in all political camps in Tórshavn, where Espersen was accused of arrogance.
French ex-actress Brigitte Bardot wrote to the Danish Queen in August, urging Denmark to stop the Faroe Islands’ hunting of gate whales. The bardot called the hunt for mass slaughter, but the Faroese authorities said it was no worse than the killing of animals in a slaughterhouse. Every year over a thousand greyhounds are caught, which is really a dolphin species.
The EU declared in September that it could not accept that the Faroe Islands and Iceland increased the quotas for mackerel while the EU is trying to keep the quotas down. The Faroe Islands had then increased their annual quota for mackerel catch from 25,000 to 85,000 tonnes.