Post #4081699

Is Åland a country? 🇦🇽 (For those who don’t know they are an autonomous, self-governing, Swedish-speaking territory of Finland, much like Greenland is to Denmark. They are neutral and demilitarized but are NATO territory. The history is complicated but they were originally Swedish territory that was occupied by Russia along with Finland in 1808. Russia demilitarized Åland as part of treaties to end the Crimean War, but was remilitarized with authorization from France and the UK for WWI. When Finland became independent of Russia they had a referendum which voted overwhelmingly to leave and join Sweden. Finland offered limited autonomy which was rejected. The case was handed to the League of Nations which gave Åland its current status.) (Citizens of Åland have regional citizenship as well as Finnish citizenship with numerous asterisks, Åland also issues its own passport which is a Finnish passport with more asterisks. Right of domicile is determined by living in Åland not Finland, as well as Swedish knowledge. It has chosen to be part of the EU as a third territory. This status allows tax-free sales on vessels travelling to/from Åland, part of why many ferries from Stockholm to Finland stop in Åland.) (Åland has its own parliment, but they are not allowed to handle some matters like state taxation, foreign affairs, courts, customs, and most civil/criminal law. They have representation in the Finnish parliment, but in the form of a single dedicated member. The Ålandic parliment is in charge of the budget, which includes a lump sum from Finland, which includes rebates for some taxes payed by Ålanders) (Ålandic autonomy is determined by a Finnish law but this may only be amended if the parliaments of Finland and Åland agree. They have their own ISO code, AX.)