Rigsfællesskabet

Rigsfællesskabet Ríkisfelagskapurin (Community of the Realm)
World map, showing Rigsfællesskabet in blue
Official languages		Danish, Greenlandic and Faroese
Leaders
-	Head of Rigsfællesskabet	Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
-	Prime Minister of Denmark	Lars Løkke Rasmussen
-	First Minister of Greenland	Kuupik Kleist
-	First Minister of the Faroe Islands	Kaj Leo Johannesen
Area
-	Total	2,210,579 km2  853,509 sq mi
Population
-	2006/2007 estimate	5,562,832
-	Density	0,39/km2  0,15/sq mi

Rigsfællesskabet (English: Community of the Realm, sometimes rendered in English as "United Kingdom of Denmark"^[1][2]) is a Danish term for the relations between continental Denmark and its two self-governing insular regions, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, which collectively make up the Kingdom of Denmark. Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland enjoy far-reaching home-rule, introduced in 1948 and 1979 respectively. Greenland's powers of self-government were increased in 2009, through the Greenland Self-Rule Act. The Constitution of Denmark applies to all three regions, and the home-rule and self-rule agreements are not enshrined in the constitution. Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland manage most of their own internal affairs. One of the results of this arrangement is that Denmark is a member of the European Union while both Greenland and the Faroe Islands have opted to remain outside of the EU. The Rigsfællesskab should not be confused with a federation or an association like the Commonwealth of Nations. It is one state with two self-governing areas, and as such it can be referred to as a federacy. The Faroe Islands and Greenland are represented with two seats each in the Danish Parliament.

The International Community

Before most foreign relations were undertaken by Denmark exclusively on behalf of all three regions, But both regions have increased their role in the foreign policy. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have become more autonomous players and they have joint influence on foreign policies which relate to their national interests like geopolitical topics and commercial fishing. However still the regions are, in a international community context, under danish administration, where The Faroe Islands and Greenland have joined the different danish delegations by the table of the international community. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have membership in the Nordic Council. They have become more integrated with the European Union, but still both contries are non-members They are only semi-members in the United Nations, NATO, OECD and the World Trade Organization, because Denmark represents the Rigsfællesskab. Denmark have in the last few years listen to the interests of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, like Greenland was included in the process of a new treaty between Denmark and the US regarding the Thule Base in northwest Greenland.

Population and area

Rigsfællesskabet consisting of Denmark (bottom right), the Faroe Islands (top right) and Greenland (left) (Click to enlarge).

Country/Region	Population	Area (km²)	Density (Pop per km²)
Denmark	5,430,590	43,094	126
Faroe Islands	47,017	1,399	34
Greenland	56,916	2,175,600	0.026

See also

Denmark portal

• Denmark
• Greenland
• Faroe Islands
• Iceland

• Kingdom of the Netherlands: composed of the Netherlands in Western Europe, and the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean

References

1. ^ Duelund, Peter (23–24 October 2007). "Cultural policies and development trends". Workshop “Cultural identity and diversity”. Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. p. 12. http://www.ambhanoi.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/A8423019-D802-497C-A1AE-ECAB24BE5B61/0/CulturalPolicyanddevelopmenttrendsbyPeterDuelund300907.doc. Retrieved 2009-06-12. 
2. ^ "Denmark — an Overview". Factsheet Denmark. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. pp. 6–7. http://www.westbalkan.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/84DA172E-87B5-4A06-8E4C-3803ADF5F2FF/0/Denmark__an_Overview.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-12. 

External links

• Prime Ministry's web page concerning the status of the Faroe Islands and Greenland
• DRs background about the Faroe Islands (In Danish)
• The North Atlantic Group in the Danish Parliament

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