Aland Islands is a country located in Europe. According to AbbreviationFinder, AX is the two-letter ISO code of Aland Islands, and ALA is the three-letter country abbreviation for Aland Islands.

In 1951, Åland was given a new self-government law with extended guarantees that the Swedish language and culture should be preserved. The special position of Åland was further strengthened in 1993, when the landscape gained greater financial freedom. The self-government also gives Åland the right to enact laws in health care, education, culture, communications and the police system.

A parliamentary committee with politicians from both Åland and Helsinki worked in 2013-2017 to prepare a proposal for a new autonomy law. But since there was disagreement about how the Constitution of Finland and the Self-Government Act should relate to each other and about how rights and obligations are distributed between Åland and the mainland, the proposal was put on ice. However, a review is underway of the economic system that regulates the relationship between Åland and the mainland.

Finland is represented in Åland by a governor appointed by the President of Finland in consultation with the Speaker of the Åland Parliament, called the legislature. This has 30 members who are elected in general elections for a term of four years. The voting age is 18 years. Åland also elects a representative to the Finnish Parliament, which usually joins the Swedish People’s Party’s parliamentary group.

The executive power of the self-government lies with the Landscape Government (formerly the Landscape Board), which is appointed by the legislature and is led by the Land Council (the chairman).

The Åland governments have dominated bourgeois coalitions. Apart from the Social Democrats of Åland, who have often been in opposition, most parties are bourgeois. The Åland Center has traditionally had the strongest support among the farmers. Moderate collection for Åland was named until 2011 Friskinnad cooperation. Other bourgeois parties are the Liberals of Åland and the Unbound Collection. The future of Åland promotes Åland independence.

In the legislative elections held on October 20, 2019, the Center became the largest party and the Liberals second largest. It went worst for the Social Democrats, who lost two seats. One month after the election, a provincial government, led by the Center, took office with party leader Veronica Thörnroos as head of government, the so-called county council. The Unbound Collection, the Moderates and a new party, Sustainable Initiative, were also included in the government.

In the recent electoral movements, lively debates have been held about, among other things, EU rules for the hunting of seabirds and the environmental impact of large fish farms. The possibilities of Åland to influence issues within the EU have often been debated. The Government of Helsinki has been negative in allowing Åland to bring its own case in Brussels on issues where Åland has the right to enact its own laws.

History. – From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Åland, together with Finland, were subjected to the king of Sweden, and from the end of the thirteenth century belonged to the diocese of Åbo (today Turku). But only when, with Peter the Great, Russia began to look seriously and to put its foot firmly on the Baltic coast, the Åland, given their strategic value, began to acquire an importance that from then on grew continuously. And precisely in the summer of 1714, during the Russo-Swedish war, the Russian admiral Count Apraksin won a victory over the Swedes near the Åland. In 1718-19, the preliminary peace negotiations took place on the island of Vardö between Russia and Sweden, which was concluded in 1721 in Nystad. Until 1809, however, Åland belonged to Sweden, ruled by a representative of the king, who resided in Kastelholm Castle, on the bank of the Bomarsund (destroyed in 1634). For the peace of Frederikshamn (finn. Hamina) of 1809, the Åland islands passed to Russia, and from 1819 they became part of the Åbo-Biemborg governorate. In 1829 the construction of the fortress of Bomarsund began, in the war of 1854-55 besieged by the French and English fleets. After a heroic defense, under the fire of 500 pieces, the garrison of 1700 men, with General Bodisco, surrendered. With the Paris Agreement of 1856, Russia was prohibited from fortifying the Åland Islands. But in 1907, in connection with the changed orientation of its international policy, Russia made known to the European powers its intention to create a naval base there. This intention was carried out in 1914, at the beginning of the world war.