Scottish Office Publication

Parliamentary Practices in Devolved Parliaments

3: Island Communities

3.0 Introduction

The purpose of this section is to consider the parliamentary practices of devolved Parliaments in relation to island, and other peripheral, communities. The conclusions of the research on this topic have to be tentative. That is for three reasons:

firstly, it proved difficult during the period available for the research to obtain much information on the practice in other countries;
secondly, and probably of much more significance, the concerns of island communities (and peripheral regions) appear to be addressed in other ways than by the establishment of a special committee to protect their interests. This may be in the form of special economic development measures, special provisions for extra regional finance, or the centre-region negotiations on the allocation of state revenues. One or other forms of assistance can be found in most European countries as a way of meeting the needs of the more peripheral areas of the state (e.g. the West of Ireland, Southern Italy, Eastern Germany, Walloon Region of Belgium, border areas of Austria). It frequently also takes the form of providing that island, or peripheral community, with its own devolved assembly.
thirdly, in many cases, the special issues arising from concerns for islands or peripheral communities are substantially also issues concerning linguistic or ethnic minorities, which are frequently to be found in such areas. Once again, these concerns will be reflected in constitutional arrangements providing for regional autonomy for that area itself, rather than a committee in the state or devolved parliament responsible.

In the course of our research, we found no example of any Parliamentary committee specifically designed to represent the interests of island or peripheral regions, in the sense of a committee with some special rights or quasi-constitutional status. A number of Parliaments have committees which are specially concerned with matters such as rural development, or similar matters, but these do not appear to have any special standing. It may be, of course, that such special committees do exist, and it is simply that we have not been able to ascertain details of their existence. We suspect, however, that the fact of the matter is that they do not exist, because such concerns are addressed normally by the methods described secondly or thirdly above.

Given that it is not the purpose of this research to consider mechanisms for regional economic development or the financial arrangements for regions, in this section we outline some special constitutional arrangements that are made for island or peripheral communities in Europe, on a country-by-country basis. For clarity, details of the various devolved arrangements referred to below, where available, are given in the section 6 of this report which summarises the devolved Parliaments in Europe.

3.1 Denmark

Much of metropolitan Denmark is itself constituted by islands, but these cannot in any sense be regarded as being peripheral, and the arrangements for their government are simply the normal arrangements for local government. However, there are devolved arrangements for two island territories of Denmark : Faroe Islands, and Greenland.

In both cases, there is obviously a geographical distance from metropolitan Denmark, combined with strong linguistic and/or ethnic pressures which have led to self-government.

Both Faroes and Greenland - each of which with a population of approximately 50,000 - have effective legislative and administrative autonomy over most internal matters, and some rights in matters of international concern to the islands. Further details are given in the section 6 of this report.

3.2 Finland

Although Finland there is no general scheme of devolution or federalisation in Finland, extensive autonomy has been granted to the Aland Islands, a group of islands located between Finland and Sweden. The population of approximately 25,000 is overwhelmingly Swedish-speaking. The islands are demilitarised, and are guaranteed autonomy both by international agreements and under Finnish law. The Autonomy Act providing for the island's devolution has been revised on a number of occasions since it was first enacted in 1920. The most recent Autonomy Act came into effect in 1993. It further extended Aland's autonomy. The Act can only be repealed or altered by the Finnish Parliament with the consent of the Aland Parliament, in both cases voting with a qualified majority. Details of the legislative process in the parliament are given in section 2 of this report, and other details (including details of its powers and Aland's relationship with the central Finnish state) are given in section 6 of this report.

3.3 Italy

Special arrangements have been made for the two large islands of Sicily and Sardinia, in both of which there has been a limited tradition of demands for regional self-government since the formation of the Italian state. Both were given "special" region status under the 1948 Italian constitution. "Special" region status has also been given to three areas in northern Italy, where peripherality is linked with particular linguistic/ethnic concerns : Valle d'Aosta (French); Trentino-Alto Adige (German) ⁴⁵. Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Friulian, Slovene). "Special" regions have a greater extent of legislative and administrative devolution than other Italian regions, as described more fully in section 6 of this report.

3.4 Portugal

The Constitution adopted after the Portuguese revolution in 1974 envisaged a system of devolution to all parts of the country. However, the only parts of the country where devolved legislative assemblies have actually been established are the island territories of Azores and Madeira. Further details of the system of devolution are given in Section 6 of this report.

3.5 Spain

Two significant island groups are included in the territory of the Spanish state. These are the Canaries and the Balearics. Both have their own Autonomous Communities, the former being one of those with a higher level of autonomy, and the latter with a lower level. In addition, a number of the more peripheral regions of mainland Spain have shown strong demands for autonomy. That is reflected in the fact that these areas (namely Catalonia, Basque Country, Navarre, Galicia, Valencia, and Andalusia) were given a higher level autonomy under the Spanish scheme of devolution. Details of the system of autonomy in Spain are given in the section of this report summarising devolved parliaments throughout Europe ⁴⁶.

Some protection for peripheral areas within Autonomous Communities is provided for by the constitutional provision that elections on party lists to their assemblies must represent all parts of their territory. However, this means only that if a Community is made up from more than one province, there is a separate electoral list constituency for each province.

3.6 Some other constitutional arrangements for peripheral regions

In Belgium, the German-speaking community is located in the eastern periphery of the country, and has its own devolved institutions (see section 6 of this report for details).

In Germany, the Constitution of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein requires that the Danish and Friesian communities, which are concentrated in the northern periphery of the Land, are given "protection and support".

In Finland, an elected assembly has been established to promote the cultural interests of the (nomadic) Sami people, in the areas in the north of the country.

In France, there is a limited degree of power exercised by the Corsican National Assembly.

3.7 Conclusion

On the basis of the relatively limited information available to date, it would appear that the normal response to calls for protection of the interests of islands or other peripheral regions is either to respond by financial or economic measures, or by giving some form of devolution to the area concerned, rather than by making special provision in the procedures or organisation of the parliament with jurisdiction.

Interestingly, there are two examples in UK constitutional history - one historical, and one current - of consideration of the establishment of a geographically based committee.

Firstly, in the early 1980s, the Montgomery Committee looked into the functions and powers of the Islands Councils of Scotland.⁴⁷ That committee was of course considering the issue in the context of legislation establishing a Scottish Parliament not being proceeded with following the referendum in 1979, and the main thrust of its recommendations was directed towards improving existing administrative arrangements for the islands. The committee rejected proposals for legislative devolution to the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Interestingly, proposals were also made to the Committee that there should be established a "Council of the Islands" with a right to be heard and consulted on all draft legislation affecting Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles. This proposal was, however, rejected, along with a proposal for the Secretary of State to have an advisory committee on islands issues.

The committee did go as far as suggesting that a separate "islands" view might be sought when responses are asked for by government from local government, and also concluded that there might be circumstances in which Acts of Parliament might include provisions allowing the Secretary of State to vary their application to the islands. They also expressed the view that their recommendations were only a stage in a continuing process of development of local government of the islands, and that arguments they found unconvincing in 1983 might become thoroughly convincing in different circumstances.

Secondly, the possible value of a regionally-based committee is currently under consideration in Wales. The Bill to establish a National Assembly for Wales proposes a committee for North Wales, and it is understood that the equivalent to the CSG in Wales is now proposing that there should be four committees established in the National Assembly, for the North and also Mid-Wales, South West Wales, and South East Wales.