The Geopolitics of the Faroe Islands

This working paper analyzes the geopolitics of the Faroe Islands (Føroyar) which consist of 18 major islands with 1,393 km² land mass in the North Atlantic between the Shetland Islands (United Kingdom), Iceland, and Norway near in the Arctic Circle with 54,149 inhabitants. The position in the center of the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) gap of the NATO defense against Russia, the rich fish resources, and the demand for more autonomy up to independence makes the Faroes geopolitically important. The Faroes are inhabited by descendants of the Norse and belonged for centuries to Norway, but after the dissolution of the Union between Norway and Denmark in 1814, they came to Denmark. In 1946, a thin majority of 50.7% voted for independence which was not accepted by Denmark, but an autonomous status with self-determination in domestic affairs was implemented in 1948 as Home Rule. In 2005, this was expanded to a self-rule like the Greenlandic self-rule from 2009. The Faroes developed a draft constitution in 2006 and created an economic union with Iceland in the same year. The key geopolitical issue is the intensified debate on independence and constitutional reforms on the Faroe Islands that overlaps with the debate in Greenland. As meanwhile both countries gained home rule, self-rule and have developed a draft constitution, the 2024 dispute in the Nordic Council about unequal treatment between autonomous regions and nation states has intensified the debate. A solution that could address their demands and concerns would be a constitutional reform of the Realm of Denmark where the single state is transformed into independent nation three states that could be still linked with each other. Discussed models are free associations like the New Zealand model, a federation, the Netherlands model of constitutional countries, a Commonwealth, or a Dominion construct where mainland Denmark would still be largest actor, but only a part of legally equal and independent nation states. However, Denmark tries to avoid such a debate, because once started it would sooner or later end up in the dissolution of Denmark as union state into three states. Denmark is now strengthening its ties to the Faroes, e.g., by the new defense strategy that includes closer information exchange. The Faroes are already outside the EU and in an economic union with Iceland, but despite tensions with the EU and NATO in the past, the Faroe Islands are now cooperating with both organizations. Furthermore, the Faroe Islands and Greenland have begun to establish own representatives in certain countries and organizations. On the other hand, both Greenland and the Faroes are hesitant to make unilateral steps to independence as both economies are highly dependent from fishery and secondary from Danish subsidies. A split of the Danish Realm into three linked, but independent states could also massively affect the outreach of the European Union which would then be limited to North Sea instead to the Arctic, as north of the Faroes everything would be controlled by non-EU-members. For this reason, it is of high geostrategic importance for the European Union to watch this very closely and to take the developments seriously.