EUOBSERVER / TÓRSHAVN – The Faroe Islands are seeking a stronger and more structured relationship with the European Union and membership of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
“We would like a closer co-operation with the EU – a more structured relationship similar to the one Switzerland has with the EU,” said Herluf Sigvaldsson, director of the Faroese government’s foreign affairs department.
He told EUobserver that the Faroese government is having informal talks with the EFTA member states – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Although the talks are only in the initial stages and are expected to take a long time, “the strategy is membership”, according to Mr Sigvaldsson.
The Faroe Islands – located between the UK’s Shetland Islands and Iceland – is, like Greenland, an autonomous region under the sovereignty of the Danish Kingdom.
When Denmark joined the then European Economic Community in 1973, the Faroe Islands chose to stay outside mainly due to the Common Fisheries Policy. Over 95 percent of the Islands’ industry depends on fishing.
Currently, the EU’s official relationship with the Faroe Islands is regulated by two bilateral agreements – a bilateral fisheries agreement from 1977 and a free trade agreement from 1991, last revised in 1998. The free trade agreement has some quantitative restrictions though.
