Lisbon Treaty: Aland Islands and Gibraltar

I have noticed that some people are looking for information about the approval of the EU Treaty of Lisbon in Aland and Gibraltar.

Finland and the United Kingdom have ratified the Lisbon Treaty, but these autonomous regions decide if the treaty is to be applied in their territories.

This post can be called an update ─ in theory.

Three weeks since my latest post on the Aland Islands and the EU Treaty of Lisbon, no report has emanated from the Legal Committee of the Aland Parliament. If the treaty reaches the plenary a two thirds majority is needed for approval.

The other self-ruling region with a population of 28,000 is Gibraltar. A government official was kind enough to promise an answer about the plans for the approval of the Lisbon Treaty as soon as possible, but nothing has been heard of since.

Scanning speeches, press releases etc. on the web pages of the Government of Gibraltar (no search function available) drew a blank, as did a search on Laws of Gibraltar, although at least the Wikipedia article on the Lisbon Treaty tells us that Gibraltar is supposed to decide on approval. The Gibraltar Parliament seems to have but one all-purpose home page, without any links to political business.

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The Treaty of Lisbon was signed 13 December 2007. It was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 December 2007. Fourteen months have now passed.

Self-rule, population count and discretion seem to be common characteristics despite the geographical distance between Aland and Gibraltar.

Small and agile? Open communications?


Forget it.


Ralf Grahn