Will the Orkney Islands soon break away from the UK and join Norway? A BBC report initially suggests that. But it’s not that easy.
On the Scottish Orkney Islands in the North Atlantic, discussions are being held about breaking away from Great Britain. One of several options is to become a self-governing area of Norway. Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, community leader James Stockan emphasized the historically close ties to the Scandinavian country to which the archipelago of 20,000 people once belonged. Late on Sunday evening, the British media spoke of a possible “Orkxit” in the North Atlantic – in reference to the “Brexit” baptized Great Britain’s exit from the EU.
Stockan has requested that other forms of government be considered. The goal is greater economic independence, he said. The archipelago north of mainland Scotland feels betrayed by the governments in London and Edinburgh. The financial contributions are significantly lower than on the Shetland Islands further north or the Outer Hebrides in western Scotland.
Pledged to Scotland
Orkney was founded in 1472 as security for the dowry at the marriage of Queen Margaret of Denmark to King James III of Scotland. pledged to Scotland. “On the street in Orkney, people ask me when we’re going to give back the dowry, when we’re going to be part of Norway again,” Stockan said. There is a great cultural connection with the Nordic countries.
But it’s not that simple, as Holger Hestermeyer, Professor of International and European Law at King’s College London, emphasizes. “The usual type of transfer today would be an assignment through an international treaty,” he told the German Press Agency on Monday. But even if the UK agreed, Norway would have to agree too, Hestermeyer said.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry was buttoned up on the matter: “This is a domestic political and constitutional British matter. We have no opinion on this request,” said a ministry spokeswoman when asked by dpa.
According to the BBC, alternative forms of government for the Orkney district leader Stockan are also conceivable – and probably more realistic – for the Crown Estates such as Jersey or the overseas territories such as Gibraltar.
Source: Stern
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