Kevin,
Thanks
for the information. After your information I may suggest that Svalbard is the
biggest autocracy of West Europe.
I
would like to correct three mistakes I made in my earlier
postings:
1. It
is no longer a question about making Svalbard a municipality. According to the
text below instead it has been suggested to create a Longyearbyen Local Board of
Representatives. Then one avoid the situation with Russians and
Ukrainians.
2. The
number of Slavs in Svalbard has decreased to only about 900. Now Norwegians are
in majority in the archipelago.
3. It excists now an own Svalbard population register. Therefor
I presume it now is possible to officially migrate from mainland Norway to
Svalbard.
«A
little more than 1,400 Norwegians currently live in Svalbard. Most of these live
in Longyearbyen, a modern, family-based community with a school, bank, shops,
several kindergartens, and a church. Longyearbyen is not run as a traditional
Norwegian municipality. Rather, the state-owned corporation Svalbard
Samfunnsdrift (Svalbard Community Services) is responsible for most of the
services managed at the municipal level on mainland Norway. The Svalbard
Council, which is elected locally, is an advisory body involved in most
community-level decision-making processes. The Norwegian governmental "report No 9 to the
Storting (1999-2000)" lays the
foundation for strengthening the democratic aspects of local decision-making in
Longyearbyen. It proposes that a Longyearbyen Local Board of Representatives be
established. This Board is to hold greater responsibilities and have more
authority with regards to local community issues than the current Svalbard
Council.»
According to the Guinnnes Book of Record the Siberian city of Dikson is
the World's northernmost city (population 10,000+.) Most Norwegians believe it
is Hammerfest. Does somebody know if the Dikson population today actually is
that high? I of course have in mind the huge migration from Sibiria due to the
economical situation.
Jan