Faroese lawmaker questions planned changes to countryside access

KVF reports that Ben Arabo, a Member of the Faroese Parliament for the Social Democratic Party, has expressed reservations about proposed changes to the rules governing access to the countryside.

“People in the Faroe Islands should not have to pay to walk in the countryside,” Arabo said in Parliament.

The government has proposed changes to the law on access to the countryside and to the sustainability fee scheme. In his national address, the prime minister said the coalition would review the law on sustainable tourism and abolish the 20 kroner fee charged for each night tourists stay in the Faroe Islands.

However, a parliamentary debate showed that Helgi Abrahamsen of the Union Party and Jørgen Niclasen of the People’s Party do not agree on the plans.

Later in the afternoon, it also became clear that there are doubts within the Social Democratic Party. Arabo told Parliament that he had reservations about the proposed changes.

The developments indicate that the coalition parties have yet to agree on how tourism and access to the countryside should be organised in the coming years.