The Spanish government has sparked a conflict with the Faroe Islands by trying to block an agreement the Danish autonomous territory had reached with the Catalan government over digitalisation. The agreement, signed this week by Catalan minister Jordi Puigneró and Faroese MP Kristina Háfoss, has not been accepted by the Spanish government, which has referred it to the courts.

Háfoss has said that, despite pressure from Madrid, the Faroe Islands will continue collaborating with Catalonia. "Spain is trying to cancel the signed [memorandum of understanding] on cooperation on digitalization between the Faroe Islands and Catalonia," she wrote on Twitter. She added that "The Faroese minister for digitalization states that no matter what the Spanish court decides, the cooperation on digitalization continues."

Spain is trying to cancel the signed MoU on cooperation on digitalization between the #FaroeIslands & #Catalonia.



The Faroese minister for #digitalization states that no matter what the Spanish court decides, the cooperation on digitalization continues.https://t.co/ZlGqTmDyvC — Kristina Háfoss (@KristinaHafoss) November 22, 2019

The Faroe Islands have one of Europe's most advanced digital policies, developing digital infrastructure and e-governance possibilities. According to the Faroese government: "The programme is divided into four projects: Creating a e-ID, creating a citizens portal for public digital services, delivering free and reliable basic data and creating a data exchange layer."

During a recent visit to Catalonia, Háfoss, who was Faroese treasury minister until earlier this year, met with former speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell in Mas d'Enric prison. She passed on greetings from the current speakers of the Parliaments of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, Jógvan á Lakjuni and Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. She also visited social leader Jordi Cuixart and politicians Jordi Turull and Raül Romeva in Lledoners prison.

Visited the former President of the #Catalan Parliament, @ForcadellCarme in prison.

An honor to meet this strong & inspiring woman.

I had greetings from the presidents of both the #Faroese & #Icelandic #parliaments, J. á Lakjuni & S. J. Sigfússon, to Carme. #DemocracyOnTrial pic.twitter.com/UnfXxYpFcV — Kristina Háfoss (@KristinaHafoss) November 21, 2019

In the Catalan Parliament, she met current speaker Roger Torrent, as well as a delegation from JxCat. With the pro-independence party, they agreed that their constituents have the right to self-determination.

A pleasure to meet with parlamentarians from Junts per Catalunya in the Catalan parliament today.



We agree on many things & one of these are that the people of #Catalonia & the #FaroeIslands have the right to self-determination.@JuntsXCat #Tjóðveldi#SelfDeterminationIsARight pic.twitter.com/fv6JeDgFJd — Kristina Háfoss (@KristinaHafoss) November 21, 2019