All lessons focus on the situation in European Small States involved in this Erasmus+ project. These are, in alphabetical order: Andorra, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, and San Marino.
Country reports for this lesson were presented at the first Erasmus+ meeting on 9 November 2018 in Liechtenstein with some amendments for this lesson in the website.
... let us see what you already know about the content of this lesson. So we start with a few introductory questions. You will receive answers as the lesson progresses. If you click on the question box the correct answer will appear.
No. Only Liechtenstein is below 100'000.
Yes. San Marino (34'000), Liechtenstein (39'000) and Andorra (77'000) have less than 100'000 inhabitants.
No. Only Andorra is below 100'000.
No, but almost: Liechtenstein and Andorra are below 100'000.
No. Only San Marino is below 100'000.
No. Luxembourg is embedded between Germany, France and Belgium.
NO. Montenegro has an Adriatic coast of 295 km, but it is part of the Balkans with borders to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegowina, Kosovo, Albania and Croatia.
Yes, indeed, Malta is an island state in the Mediterranean like Cyprus, and Iceland is another island small state, but in the Atlantica.
No. Andorra is located in the Pyrenees and has borders with Spain and France.
No. San Marino is completely surrounded by Italy.
No, many more than 5.
No, many more than 7.
No, more than 8.
No, even more than 10.
Yes, indeed, 9 small states with 12 official languages!
In the following chapters we will go into some aspects of European small states in more detail. Please note that you will find more details in other lessons.
You can learn more about:
At the end of this lesson, we also offer numerous links which you are welcome to select to deepen your knowledge. There you will also find presentations on all our small states with additional in-depth information regarding this lesson.
Geographical Situation
The European Small States presented here are spread all over Europe. In the north-west, Iceland is located in the Atlantic Ocean, while Cyprus is located in the south-east near Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Like Cyprus, Malta is an island state in the Mediterranean.
The following table lists the latitudes and longitudes where the European Small States are located. Iceland is the northernmost country and also the westernmost. The opposite is true for Cyprus.
On the European mainland, Estonia in the north-east is one of the three Baltic States - along with Latvia and Lithuania - with land borders with Latvia and Russia, while Finland can be reached via the Baltic Sea.
Andorra and Liechtenstein are each nestled between two larger states. Andorra lies between France and Spain, Liechtenstein between Switzerland and Austria.
Luxembourg and Montenegro have borders with even more neighbouring countries. Luxembourg borders France, Belgium and Germany; Montenegro borders five states: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania.
San Marino has only one border with another country as it is completely surrounded by Italian territory.
In terms of surface area, Iceland stands out with more than 100,000 square kilometres. This is more than all other European Small States included in this presentation combined.
Estonia has the second largest area with around 45,000 square kilometres, followed by Montenegro with just under 14,000 and Cyprus with a little more than 9'000 square kilometres.
The smallest of the states considered here is San Marino with 61 square kilometres only, followed by Liechtenstein with 160, Malta with 316 and Andorra with 467 square kilometres.
In the middle of the field is Luxembourg with just under 2,600 square kilometres.
The maximum distance between the European Small States is between Iceland in the north-west and Cyprus in the south-east: more than 4,700 kilometres as linear distance.
The shortest distance is between Luxembourg and Liechtenstein with a distance of 379 kilometres.
Distances between European Small States (km)
In terms of average distance to all other European Small States, Iceland has the maximum with an average distance of 3,110 kilometres, followed by Cyprus with an average distance of 2,567 kilometres.
The most centrally located are Liechtenstein and San Marino. Both have an average distance to the other Small States of just over 1,300 kilometres.
All European Small States have had an eventful history, which in the end has led to the fact that they are now accepted as independent states in the world community and can operate with their own constitutions and political scope for action.
San Marino's state independence, which has existed uninterruptedly since 1740, goes back the furthest. However, the state had already existed in its territorial contours before that, but was occupied several times and was later able to regain independence.
Liechtenstein was embedded in the Holy Roman Empire for many centuries. Only with the fall of the Old Empire and the triumphal procession of Napoleon did the Principality of Liechtenstein gain sovereignty in 1806 and has not had to give it up until today - not even during the period of the First and Second World War.
Iceland had been ruled and influenced by Denmark for centuries, as was Greenland further north. After autonomy had already been granted to some extent before, Iceland finally gained state sovereignty in 1918.
Throughout its history, Luxembourg has been exposed to changing influences and has been repeatedly occupied and governed by neighbouring states. The last conquest was by Hitler's Germany. After 1945, Luxembourg regained sovereignty.
Cyprus was under Ottoman rule from 1571 to 1878, then leased by the Ottoman Empire to Britain, which annexed Cyprus in 1918. British colonial rule ended with the independence of Cyprus in 1960, but the occupation of the north-eastern part of Cyprus by Turkey in 1974 meant that sovereignty since then cannot be exercised over the entire island territory.
After several changes in foreign rule, Malta became a British Crown Colony in 1814. From 1947 on the British granted Malta self-government, and in 1964 Malta gained state sovereignty but remained a member of the Commonwealth. With the proclamation of the Republic in December 1974, the Queen of England was no longer Head of State.
Estonia belonged to the Russian Empire from 1710 to 1918 and became independent for the first time between 1918 and 1940. It was then annexed by the Soviet Union under the Hitler-Stalin Pact, and after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union Estonia came under German rule from 1941 to 1944. It was then forced back into the Soviet Union until Estonia regained state sovereignty following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Large parts of Montenegro belonged to the Ottoman Empire until 1878. Then the Principality of Monaco gained sovereignty and was even upgraded to a kingdom in 1910. During the First World War, Montenegro stood alongside Serbia and was occupied by Austria. Montenegro was then incorporated into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918. During World War II, the Italians created an independent state of Montenegro for a short time in 1941, but it was subsequently incorporated into the Republic of Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia disintegrated in 1992, a large majority in Montenegro initially voted to remain in the union with Serbia. In 2006, however, a majority voted for an independent Montenegro which then was realized.
| Small State | Year of independence |
| San Marino | 1740 |
| Liechtenstein | 1806 |
| Andorra | 1814 |
| Iceland | 1918 |
| Luxembourg | 1945 |
| Cyprus | 1960 |
| Malta | 1964 |
| Estonia | 1991 |
| Montenegro | 2006 |
What distinguishes the independence history of the European Small States is that, because of their small size, they have no chance to fight for their independence by force of arms. Rather, diplomatic skill, tenacity, the existence of a national identity, the goodwill of neighbouring states, the support of friendly states, sometimes luck and opportunities, are decisive in the attainment, maintenance or restoration of state sovereignty.
It is helpful if the geographical area is suitable for demarcation. This is particularly the case for island states such as Iceland, Cyprus and Malta. Mountain states such as Andorra, San Marino or Montenegro also benefit from their geographical location. By contrast, states with a weak geographical demarcation, such as Estonia and Luxembourg, are more often exposed to the interests of larger powers, sometimes coming under occupation from one side, sometimes from the other.
In the case of Liechtenstein, luck is probably also involved, since neighbouring Switzerland and, at the same time, Liechtenstein were not involved in the two World Wars.
In the case of Malta and Cyprus, the island position may facilitate the development of a national identity, but on the other hand these islands were often of strategic importance even for larger powers and their sovereignty was therefore threatened.
Of the European Small States considered here, San Marino with 34,000 and Liechtenstein with 39,000 inhabitants are the smallest in terms of population. With 77,000 inhabitants, Andorra is also below the 100,000 threshold.
Two states have a population of more than one million: Estonia with just over 1.3 million and Cyprus with just under 1.2 million inhabitants.
Iceland, Malta, Montenegro and Luxembourg range between them, with a population of 365,000 to 630,000.inhabitants.
So there are considerable differences even within the European small states: Estonia has almost forty times more inhabitants than San Marino.
The proportion of foreigners varies greatly in the various European Small States. The island states of Iceland, Malta and Cyprus have a very high proportion of their own nationals - from 84 to 94 percent. However, Estonia and San Marino also have a rather low proportion of foreigners, at 15 and 17 percent respectively.
In contrast, Luxembourg, Andorra and Montenegro have a very high proportion of foreigners, ranging from 47 to 55 per cent.
Liechtenstein is in the middle, with around one third of foreigners.
As far as religion is concerned, the Catholic religion is dominant in the southern and western European states, including Malta. 97 percent in San Marino, 88 percent in Andorra profess this religion. In Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, the figures are somewhat lower, but still at 64 and 73 percent respectively.
In South Eastern Europe, i.e. the small states of Montenegro and Cyprus, the Eastern Orthodox Church is the leader. 72 percent in Montenegro, 89 percent in Cyprus are committed to it.
In Iceland, the Protestant denomination leads the field, especially with the Church of Iceland, while in Estonia two thirds state that they do not belong to any religious community.
***
Depending on the ethnic composition of the original population, several religions may be traditionally rooted in individual states. This is particularly the case in Cyprus and Montenegro. In Montenegro, in addition to the Orthodox denomination of Montenegrins and Serbs, the Islamic denomination of Albanians is also widespread. In Cyprus, Islam is practised by Turkish Cypriots.
Due to migration processes, additional religious pluralisation is taking place in most states. In Luxembourg, for example, 3 per cent, and in Liechtenstein 6 per cent belong to the Islamic denomination, which is largely based on immigration, for example from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania or Turkey.
No joke: The nine European Small States have a total of twelve different official national languages. In many cases, the official national language is identical or similar to that of neighbouring countries. However, special idioms can be spoken in the colloquial language.
Maltese, Icelandic and Estonian language can be regarded as relatively independent. Maltese has some references to Arab and Italian language, Icelandic is a North German language, Estonian language is related to Finnish.
Luxembourgish is situated linguistically between French and German, both of which are also official national languages.
In Liechtenstein, German is written in the same way as in Germany, but in colloquial speech a German dialect is spoken.
Montenegrin is a Serbo-Croatian language and therefore has strong affinities with Croatian and Serbian.
In Andorra, Catalan is the official language, but due to immigration and geographic proximity, Spanish, Portuguese and French are used by many people.
In San Marino, Italian is considered the official language, however Romagnol – a dialect of Emilia-Romagnol – is also widely spoken.
In Cyprus, Greek and Turkish are official languages, though locally spoken in variation as Cypriot Greek and Cypriot Turkish. According to the colonial history, English was the official language used for communication between different language groups until 1960 and is still widely known and used.
It is indeed astonishing that twelve different languages are official national languages in the nine European Small States. That depends on the fact that Turkish is recognised in Cyprus in addition to Greek; in Malta, Maltese and English are official languages; and in Luxembourg even three languages are official: Luxembourgish, French and German.
If we add the local dialects and the languages spoken by immigrants or minorities, there is an even wider potpourri of languages spoken in the European Small States.
How to communicate?
Who could easily communicate in one of their national languages with a person from another Small State? Good question. Based on the official national languages, this only applies to Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, whose common language is German – in the case of Luxembourg one of three official languages, which means that not everybody is able to speak German. Between Malta and Cyprus, English can be seen as the common parenthesis, as English is one of the official languages in Malta, while in Cyprus English is still strongly anchored according to its colonial history.
As French is widely spoken in Andorra and one of the official languages in Luxembourg, there is also a language link in place.
Nevertheless, as you can see from the presentations on this website, English has proved to be the most suitable language for working together in such a project, even though it is only an official language in one of the partner states, namely Malta.
It is astonishing how many different political systems and models of separation of powers the European Small States have developed.
Monarchical elements can still be found in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg (also in Monaco, which is not involved in this project). However, there are quite clear differences, as the competences of the Prince of Liechtenstein are much wider than those of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Both countries also have a unicameral parliament which proposes or elects the government.
Among the republics, San Marino has by far the longest tradition. Parliament is elected for five years, which in turn appoints the Government and elects two Heads of State (Capitani Regenti) each time for a period of six months only. The model dates back to the year 1200!
In Iceland, voters elect the parliament (Althing), which appoints the government, for a four-year term. The President of Iceland is also directly elected by the people.
In Estonia, the unicameral parliament (riigikogu) is elected for a four-year term, which in turn elects the government. Other than in Iceland, the President is elected by Parliament.
In Montenegro, the unicameral parliament and the President are directly elected by the people, whereas the government is appointed by the parliament.
In Malta, the House of Representatives as unicameral parliament (Kamra tad-Deputati) is elected by the people for a five-year term. The president is elected by the parliament for a five years term as well, and so is the government.
In Cyprus, the head of state and of the government (President of Cyprus) is elected by the people for a five-year term. Thus, Cyprus has a presidential system of government where the directly elected president is also head of the government and not appointed by parliament. The unicameral parliament – i.e. the House of Representatives – is also elected for a five-year term.
Andorra has a peculiar constellation of the political system resulting from history. The Parliament (General Council) is elected by the people for a four-year term. The head of government is then elected by parliament from among the members of the parliament. The function of Head of State is exercised by two persons outside Andorra with the function of co-princes. These are the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France. This part of the political system is an electoral monarchy where – surprisingly – the election is not held in the state concerned.
Roughly speaking, the nine European Small States considered here are divided into
The European small states differ in many respects. Not only geographically are they far a distance apart, spanning practically the entire European continent. Each small state has its own special history. This can be seen, among other things, in the characteristics of their political system or the history of their independence, of lost and regained sovereignty. They are usually influenced by larger neighbouring states, or the colonial past leaves its mark right up to the present. This also leads, among other things, to the fact that in small states, despite their smallness, several languages are often used as official national languages. This leads to the impressive number of twelve official languages in the nine small European states considered here.
Okay. Then let's see what you could remember from this lesson. Please tick the appropriate answer and you will see whether you are right or wrong.
No. Estonia borders Russia quite far in eastern Europe
Almost, but there is another state even more west
No, Liechtenstein lies in the centre of Europe
Yes, indeed, it is not only the northernmost, but also the westernmost small state
Almost the southernmost, but by far not the westmost
No, only Liechtenstein is below 100'000
Yes. San Marino (34'000), Liechtenstein (39'000) and Andorra (77'000) have less than 100'000 inhabitants
No. Only Andorra is below 100'000
Almost: Liechtenstein and Andorra are below 100'000
No, only San Marino is below 100'000
No. 2,783 km - but still far from the greatest distance
No. 3'000 km exactly - but still far from the greatest distance
No. 2,701 km - but still far from the greatest distance
Yes, indeed, it is 4'723 km
No, on the contrary, the shortest distance with 379 km
No. Luxembourg is embedded between Germany, France and Belgium
No. Montenegro has an Adriatic coast of 295 km, but it is part of the Balkans with borders to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegowina, Kosovo, Albania and Croatia
Yes, indeed, Malta is an island state in the Mediterranean like Cyprus, and Iceland is another island small state, but in the Atlantic
No. Andorra is located in the Pyrenees and has borders with Spain and France
No. San Marino is completely surrounded by Italy
No, only since 1918, before that Iceland was part of Denmark
Yes, indeed, San Marino has been independent since 1740
No, only since 1991, previously Estonia was part of the Soviet Union
No. Luxembourg has been independent since 1945, previously it was occupied by the German Reich
Almost, but only second.
No, much more than 5 languages.
No, much more than 7 languages.
No, it is more than 8 languages.
Even more than 10 languages.
Yes, indeed, 9 small states with 12 official languages!
