Aland Islands & EU Lisbon Treaty

Finland is one of the 24 member states, which have completed formal ratification, but the EU’s Treaty of Lisbon still lies in the Legal Committee of the regional Åland Parliament, which either consents to or rejects the applicability of the amending treaty in the autonomous province (population 27,000).



The local politicians are still holding out for increased representation and influence in the European Union (including a member of the European Parliament) and in Finnish EU affairs, but I failed to find any updates less than a month old on the web pages of the Åland Parliament (Ålands lagting), the Åland Government (Ålands landskapsregering), or the local media Ålandstidningen, Nya Åland and Ålands Radio/TV AB.

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If the Lisbon Treaty is ratified by all member states (of which 24 have completed formal ratification), it enters into force at the beginning of the following month.

Without Åland’s consent, since the new treaty replaces the Treaty of Nice, the Åland Islands would have no legal relationship with the European Union.


Ralf Grahn