Yearbook 1999
Aland. Abolishing tax-free sales on board passenger ferries meant a significant increase in ferry traffic to Aland, As the island was exempted from EU tax rules. Duty-free sales can continue on trips between Sweden and Finland if the ferries enter the Åland port. Therefore, a new quay facility for the equivalent of more than SEK 40 million was invested at Långnäs headland, where the ferries that had previously passed Aland can now add. The election to the Åland parliament in October became a success for the only party that openly advocates an independent Aland. It is the Unbound collection, which increased by a mandate to four. The Liberals on Aland also went ahead with a mandate of nine and became the largest party in terms of votes. The Åland Center also received nine seats. The loser of the election became Frisinnad cooperation, which lost two of its six mandates. As a result, the party lost the post of country council, “head of government” in the Landscape Board, which was held by Roger Jansson. The Liberals’ leader Olof Erland failed to form a majority government, and a new county council instead became the center’s chairman Roger Nordlund, former deputy county councilor and finance manager. The new landscape board got the same look as the previous one with the Åland center, the Frisinnad collaboration and the Unbound collection.
