Yearbook 2004
Faroe Islands. The total population in Faeroe Islands is 48,874 people in 2020. After the Self-Government government split up before the New Year, a new election was held for the Lagting in January. The Republicans, who advocate Faroese independence from Denmark, received the most seats in the Lagting but were placed outside the new government. Social Democrats leader Joannes Eidesgaard formed a rainbow coalition that slowed the independence plans. The Social Democrats and the two bourgeois parties The Folk Party and the Union Party agreed that social welfare depended more on financial contribution from Denmark than on political independence. While the coalition wanted to increase the degree of self-government, it did not determine a time for final liberation.
Declining fishing prices and diseases of the farmed salmon showed that the Faroese economy during the year showed signs of decline after a long period of good growth. A lively foreign policy debate was held during the year about the Faroe Islands’ belonging to the NATO military alliance. The new lawmaker, Head of Government Joannes Eidesgaard, declared that it was time to politically acknowledge that the Faroe Islands are actually part of NATO by being part of the Danish Empire. Although NATO operates a radar station in the Faroe Islands, the official political line has been neutrality. The Republicans objected to Eidesgaard’s new line and said it meant a capitulation to Denmark’s will.