Saturday, August 17, 2013

Faroe Islands go to the UN

The Faroe Islands who want the coastal countries that include Russia, Iceland and Norway (but not the UK because we do not negotiate on our behalf) to meet in September and discuss the management of the herring stock, have meanwhile taken the EU to an international tribunal under UNCLOS over those threats of sanctions.

The BBC reports that
A statement from the Faroese prime minister's office said the government had requested an international tribunal to declare the European Union "in breach of its obligations" under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

It asked for EU authorities to be "ordered to refrain from the threat or adoption of coercive economic measures on the Faroe Islands".

Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has also demanded the EU withdraws the threats and allows a peaceful settlement to be found under "free negotiations".

European sanctions will be brought in against Faroese herring and mackerel imports from the end of August.
Foolishly, the Scottish fishermen are supporting this high-handed action. Then again, what other options do they have?

2 comments:

  1. Interesting complications:

    Since the Faroes are independent but still under the Danish Crown the counterpart to the EU in the UN will be Denmark - a member of the EU. The Faroes have received OK from the Danish foreign ministry to bring the case against the EU.

    There are also some internal Danish constitutional problems - the fishing boats from the Faroes may not land in EU harbours, but it is not certain that the Danish constitution allows barring the Faroe ships from Danish harbours - given that the Faroes are under sovereingty of the Kingdom of Denmark!

    Here is another unfinished question. You may remember that quite recently there was a case in the Danish Constitutional Court regarding the Lisbon treaty. True, the eurosceptics lost the case, but what was never discussed (in foreign media at least) was the actual decision which makes the Danish position very much like the German one; ie the Danish High Court (DHC) does not consider the Danish consitution subjugated to the Lisbon treaty and the ECJ.

    Complicated....

    /Mikgen

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  2. It is, indeed. The Danes were the only ones to oppose those sanctions. Somehow I doubt that the DHC decision will be all that useful. Nothing much has come out of those subtle German decisions.

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