Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Page 253
CHRONIQUE TRIMESTRIELLE
243
of the status of Sweden and the
whole of Scandinavia.
On May 9th, the Finnish Govern-
Went informed the House of Re-
presentatives of the exchange of
Notes with the signatory Powers
°n the Aland question, and at the
same time brought three Bills before
the House, viz. Bills for the amend-
tnent of the Aland Guarantee Law;
f°r the application of conscription;
and for the granting of funds for
the military defence of the Pro-
vince.
These measures were approved by
the House of Representatives with
singularly little dissention at the be-
ginning of June.
The law to amend the rules con-
cerning the self-government of the
Population of the Aland Islands
does not directly affect the defence
°f the Islands, but is intended to
consolidate the national guarantees
°f the Swedish-speaking population
°f the Province. The new law
restricts the rights of Finnish ci-
tizens to acquire property in the
Province, and according to the new
iaw, the right to purchase real estate
'vithin the Province may be enjoyed
°nly by those persons who have
heen domiciled there for five years.
The Aland conscription law is
hased on those principles described
hy M. Erkko in his reply to the
House of Representatives and men-
tioned above.
The law dealing with a grant to
cover the basic costs of military
measures in the Aland Islands in-
cludes a financing scheme which
amounts to 426 million marks. Of
this sum, 100 million will be utilized
during the current year, 200 million
next year and 126 million in 1941.
The Finnish and Swedish Govern-
ments agreed in January that their
plan for the protection of the neu-
trality of the Aland Islands should
be submitted to the Council of the
League of Nations. The plan was
dealt with by the League Council
at its sitting of 22nd—27th May. In
coming to a decision on May 27th,
the League Council took into con-
sideration the Finnish and Swedish
plan for the amendment to the
1921 Agreement together with the
notifications handed to the Finnish
and Swedish Governments by the
signatory Powers to the agreement
in question.
It is noteworthy that the U. S. S.
R., which, as mentioned above, had
received notification of the contents
of the plan, had not hitherto replied
to the Notes submitted to the Rus-
sian Government. In his speech of
May 31th, however, M. Molotov,
the Russian Commissar for Foreign
Affairs, dealt rather extensively
with the Aland question and ex-
pressed his government’s dissatisfac-
tion on the fact that in the defense
of the neutrality of the Islands,
Sweden is reserved a position which
is not enjoyed by the U. S. S. R.
In view of M. Molotov’s speech,
M. Erkko, in dealing with the
Aland laws before the House of
Representatives on June 6th, stated:
16*