Åland Islands to be involved in handling of EU matters

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Under a government resolution, the Åland Islands, an autonomous, demilitarized, Swedish-speaking administrative province of Finland, is to be involved in the handling of matters relating to the European Union in Parliament in the future.
     
The resolution includes the guidelines that the ministries are to comply with when preparing EU matters in Finland.
      The same applies to the preparations and decision-making in the EU institutions and other bodies.
     
The purpose of the resolution is to improve Åland’s possibilities to exercise influence on EU matters at a sufficiently early stage and in cooperation with the Finnish government.
      According to the resolution, the primary aim is to devise a compromise acceptable to both mainland Finland and the Åland Islands in order that Finland would be able to take only one stand on all matters in the European Union.
      The islands' economy is strongly dominated by shipping, trade, and tourism. Åland's status as a separate tax-zone, in the wake of the EU decision to abandon all tax-free sales (on ferries between Sweden and Finland), has occasionally put the province into the firing line, as have different rules on gaming operations.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  EU fines Åland over smokeless tobacco (24.10.2007)
  Åland-based shipping lines object ban on sales of smokeless tobacco (12.11.2007)

Links:
  Åland Islands (Wikipedia)

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