Sytuacja prawnomiędzynarodowa Wysp Alandzkich w Unii Europejskiej
The status of the Åland Islands in the European Union under international law

Summary/Abstract: The Åland Islands are a Swedish-speaking autonomous territory of Finland. The broad autonomy granted by the League of Nations’ decision of 1921 allowed the Isles to make an independent decision on the integration of the Baltic archipelago into the European Communities in the early 1990s. The article presents the process of the Åland Islands obtaining EC membership, and focuses on the special status awarded to the archipelago. Thanks to the joint involvement of the autonomous authorities of the Islands and central authorities of Finland and the favorable attitude of the EC, derogations were successfully developed which, in essence, concern the basic principles of the EC. By this token, the citizens of the Åland Islands managed to secure not only the Swedish-speaking nature of their territory (retaining rights of domicile), but also the protection of their own economy (being excluded from the EU tax law regulations).

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