Faroese Constitution Proposal

Danish politicians fear that a new proposal from the Faroese to change the country’s constitution goes against the tenets established through the kingdom

Prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has given a serious warning to the Faroe Islands that the small island country is playing with fire in their efforts to author a new constitution, reports Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

The proposal, entitled ‘Parliamentary Law on the Faroese Constitution’, was submitted by a parliamentary committee in March. In the text, it states that ‘all power in the country lies with the Faroese people, and there is no reference whatsoever to the commonwealth constitution or to Denmark.

Although the Faroes presently have self-rule, the islands are still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Rasmussen, whose wife Sólrun is Faroese, has now asked the Justice Ministry and other law experts to conduct an official review of the text. In a letter to Faroese prime minister Kai Leo Johannesen, Rasmussen said the Danish government’s position on the matter will depend on this legal assessment.

‘However, I must now point out that on the present basis, the government believes that implementation of the proposals put forward would create serious doubt about fundamental elements of the kingdom’s constitutional system,’ Rasmussen wrote in the letter.

‘It is therefore the government’s position that clarification be made in all relevant areas over which legal interpretations the proposal rests upon, insofar as the relationship between the kingdom’s laws and Faroese law.’

Many Danish MPs have expressed concern about the proposal, including Danish People’s Party MP Søren Espersen. He said that should the Faroese pass the new constitution as is, it would be tantamount to a de facto resignation of their membership in the Danish Kingdom.

Former foreign minister Niels Petersen also criticised the proposal, saying it was ‘strange’ that the Faroe Islands would draft a constitution without mentioning Denmark in it.

Johannesen, who represents the Danish Liberal Party’s sister party Sambandspartiet, said he expects key passages in the constitution draft to be amended during the parliamentary reading.

‘Some passages in the proposal are simply un-doable and go against the [Danish] constitution,’ he said. ‘The new law must both take into account that we have autonomy and are still part of a kingdom.’

But Høgni Hoydal, leader of the Faroese nationalist party Republicans, said the Faroese people have always decided their own matters.

‘Now we’re saying that we’re going to create our own constitution, and that will be our basis for how we deal with Denmark in the future.’

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/politics/...-proposal.html