I was intrigued to note the possible rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by the Aland Islands, the semi-autonomous Finnish islands situated between Finland and Sweden. The islands' population of 27,000 people is discontented with the EU, and the parliament threatens to derail the ratification of the treaty by Finland.
A European Union ban on the sale of oral snuff has caused an increase in anti-European feeling on the Swedish-speaking islands, and could lead to the defeat of the treaty in the Aland's 30-member parliament. Sales of snuff were recently banned in Finland under EU law, but Aland wants to sell it in Swedish waters where it is still legal, saying that otherwise it will lose port business.
Finland's headache has been made worse by the islanders' resentment at their lack of a voice at an EU level, including the lack of an MEP, and an EU ban on duck hunting imposed on the islands two years ago.
With the Finnish government stating that it does not want to see the treaty ratified if it is rejected by the Aland Islands, the islands' ability to wield power, well outwith their size, sets a clear example to our own Scottish Government and Parliament of how a shot can be fired across the bows of the UK Government and the EU.
If the Scottish Parliament were to vote to reject the treaty on an issue such as fisheries, this would indeed put intense pressure on the UK Government and Brussels to address some of these concerns.
Alex Orr, Edinburgh.
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