The initiative has won many supporters in Norway, including Bjorn Geirr Harsson, formerly of the Norwegian Mapping Authority, who late last year launched a Facebook campaign to shift the country’s border by 200 meters to bring the peak of Halti mountain into Finnish territory as a gift to its neighbor commemorating the 100th anniversary of its independence.
“It would not change the square kilometer size of Norway or Finland,” Harsson told The Telegraph. “Indeed, Norway’s size would shrink by only 0.015 square kilometers, but it would make a big difference that the highest point in Finland would be on a mountain peak and not on a hillside … In general I would say that the Finnish people have a high regard for Norway and I would expect most Norwegians to support this.”
Thousands of Norwegians have signed up in the Facebook campaign aimed at giving the top of Halti Mountain as an anniversary present when Finland marks the centenary of its independence next year.
The only thing holding up the proposed transfer is Article 1 of the Norwegian constitution, which states that “The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible and inalienable Realm.”
Bjorn Geirr Harsson still believes that handover of a tiny sliver of Norwegian territory to a neighbor would be appreciated everywhere as a sign of goodwill on the part of the Norwegian people.
In 1917, after the abdication of Russian Emperor Nicholas II, the personal union between Russia and Finland lost its legal base and Carl Gustav Mannerheim, a Finnish-born Russian Imperial cavalry commander, returned home to fight communist forces and helped establish Finland as an independent republic.
Finland stayed neutral during the Cold War and currently maintains one of the highest standards of living in the world.
