Five out of six parties are going to the elections with the ambition of forming an independent Faroese state.
This is reported by Kristlig Dagblad.
Parliamentary candidate for the conservative party People's Party and former Minister of Fisheries Arni Skaale would like to see negotiations on independence begin in the next parliamentary term.
And the threats against Greenland do not scare him "at all".
"No. Not at all. Not at all," he emphasizes to Kristeligt Dagblad.
- We can become an independent member of NATO
But you, like Greenland, are a nation of few inhabitants living in a strategically important security policy area. Aren't you afraid of being pressured by major powers?
"It is likely that there are some who will try to pressure us. I don't think anyone is immune to that, not even Denmark. As an independent state, we will be able to be an independent member of NATO, so I don't see that as a big obstacle," Arni Skaale replies.
However, Skaale does not want to cut ties with the kingdom completely, he emphasizes.
"I see the Faroe Islands as our own country, but we will of course cooperate with Denmark and the other NATO countries."
- Historyless and tone-deaf
The only party that does not support independence is the liberal Sambandspartiet. And here the statements of the independence movement are being dealt with harshly.
“I think it is ahistorical, tone-deaf and a gamble with the security of the Faroe Islands,” says Anna Falkenberg, who has served in the Folketing for the party since 2022.
From her perspective, it is more important than ever to stand together in the realm.
“We need to develop the realm instead of dismantling it. The reason we want to be part of the realm is not money – the block grant doesn’t mean much to us. It’s about the fact that we are in a large realm where we can draw on experience in, for example, health and education,” she says.
If it were to reach the point of negotiating independence, it would be the third time in modern history that the archipelago has tried to approach the state of the Faroe Islands.
