Liechtenstein: Difference between revisions
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Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein is currently one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector and also living standard which compare favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxes — the maximum tax rate is 18% — as well as easy [[Rules of Incorporation]] have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. |
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein is currently one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector and also living standard which compare favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxes — the maximum tax rate is 18% — as well as easy [[Rules of Incorporation]] have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue. |
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Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to |
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center. |
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Liechtenstein participates in a [[customs union]] with [[Switzerland]] and employs the [[Franc#Swiss franc|Swiss franc]] as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the [[European Economic Area]] (an organization serving as a bridge between the [[European Free Trade Association]] (EFTA) and the [[European Union]]) since May [[1995]]. The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in [[Vaduz]]. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ls.html#Econ CIA World Factbook]</ref> and $54,000 per person. |
Liechtenstein participates in a [[customs union]] with [[Switzerland]] and employs the [[Franc#Swiss franc|Swiss franc]] as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the [[European Economic Area]] (an organization serving as a bridge between the [[European Free Trade Association]] (EFTA) and the [[European Union]]) since May [[1995]]. The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in [[Vaduz]]. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ls.html#Econ CIA World Factbook]</ref> and $54,000 per person. |
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Revision as of 04:38, 8 February 2007
Principality of Liechtenstein Fürstentum Liechtenstein | |
|---|---|
| Motto: none | |
| Anthem: Oben am jungen Rhein "High Above the Young Rhine" | |
 | |
| Capital | Vaduz |
| Largest city | Schaan |
| Official languages | German |
| Government | Constitutional monarchy |
• Prince | Hans-Adam II |
• Regent | Alois |
| Otmar Hasler | |
| Independence as principality | |
| 1806 | |
• Water (%) | negligible |
| Population | |
• July 2006 estimate | 33,987 (211th) |
• 2000 census | 33,307 |
| GDP (PPP) | 2001 estimate |
• Total | $1.786 billion (185) |
• Per capita | $25,000 (unranked) |
| HDI (2003) | n/a Error: Invalid HDI value (unranked) |
| Currency | Swiss franc (CHF) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Calling code | 4231 |
| ISO 3166 code | LI |
| Internet TLD | .li |
The Principality of Liechtenstein (German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a very small, doubly landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, though it is perhaps best-known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized (in the way that the Principality of Monaco and Gibraltar are). Many cultivated fields and little farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Oberland) and in the south (Unterland). Not only is it the smallest German-speaking country in the world, but also it is the only German speaking country besides Luxembourg to have a Royal head of state.
History
At one time, the territory of Liechtenstein formed a part (albeit a diminutive one) of the ancient Roman province of Raetia. For centuries this territory, geographically removed from European strategic interests, had little impact on the tide of European history. Prior to the reign of its current dynasty, the region was enfeoffed to a line of the counts of Hohenems.
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the Principality takes its name (rather than vice-versa), comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the 13th century, and from 1807 onwards. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swathes of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisors. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.
The family yearned greatly for the added power which a seat in the Imperial government would garner, and therefore searched for lands to acquire which would be unmittelbar or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft ("Lordship") of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required, no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.
Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name "Liechtenstein" in honour of "[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein". It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. Ironically, but as testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years.
In 1806, most of the Holy Roman Empire was invaded by Napoleon I of the First French Empire. This event had broad consequences for Liechtenstein: imperial legal and political mechanisms broke down, while Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor abdicated the imperial throne and the Empire itself dissolved. As a result, Liechtenstein ceased to have any obligations to any feudal lord beyond its borders. Modern publications generally (although incorrectly) attribute Liechtenstein's sovereignty to these events. In reality, its prince merely became suzerain as well as remaining sovereign lord. From 25 July, 1806 when the Confederation of the Rhine was founded, the prince of Liechtenstein was a member, in fact a vassal of its hegemon, styled protector, French Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte, until the dissolution of the Confederation on 19 October, 1813.
Then, in 1818, Johann I granted a constitution, although it was limited in its nature. 1818 also saw the first visit of a Member of the House of Liechtenstein (Prince Alois). However, the first visit by a sovereign prince would not occur till 1842.
Soon after, Liechtenstein joined the German Confederation (20 June, 1815 – 24 August, 1866, presided over by the Emperor of Austria).
Liechtenstein also had many advances in the 19th century, as in 1836 the first factory was opened, which made ceramics. In 1861, the Savings and Loans Bank was founded, and the first cotton-weaving mill was also opened. Two bridges over the Rhine were built in 1868, and then in 1872 a railway line across Liechtenstein was constructed.
Until the end of World War I, Liechtenstein was closely tied first to the Austrian Empire and then to Austria-Hungary. However, the economic devastation caused by WWI forced the country to conclude a customs and monetary union with its other neighbour, Switzerland. The Army had already been disbanded in 1868, out of financial considerations. At the time of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was argued that Liechtenstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire (supposedly still incarnated in Liechtensteiner eyes at an abstract level in the person of the then-dethroned Austro-Hungarian Emperor, despite its formal dissolution in 1806) was no longer bound to Austria, then emerging as an independent state which did not consider itself as the legal successor to the Empire. Liechtenstein is thus the last independent state in Europe which can claim an element of continuity from the Holy Roman Empire.
In the spring of 1938, just after the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, 84 year-old Prince Franz I abdicated, naming his 31 year-old third cousin, Prince Franz Joseph, as his successor. While Prince Franz I claimed that old age was his reason for abdicating, he had no desire to be on the throne if Germany gobbled up its new neighbour, Liechtenstein. His wife, whom he married in 1929, was a wealthy Viennese Jew and local Liechtenstein Nazis had already singled her out as their anti-Semitic "problem." Although Liechtenstein had no official Nazi party, a Nazi sympathy movement had been simmering for years within its National Union party.[1] During World War II, Liechtenstein remained neutral, while family treasures within the war zone were brought to Liechtenstein (and London) for safekeeping. At the close of the conflict, Czechoslovakia and Poland, acting to seize what they considered to be German possessions, expropriated the entirety of the Liechtenstein dynasty's hereditary lands and possessions in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia — the Princes of Liechtenstein lived in Vienna until the Anschluss of 1938. The expropriations (subject to modern legal dispute at the World Court) included over 1,600 square kilometres (600 mi.²) of agricultural and forest land, including also several family castles and palaces. It is thus little wonder that during the decades of the Cold War, citizens of Liechtenstein were forbidden by Czechoslovakia from even entering that country. Liechtenstein gave asylum to approximately 500 Soldiers of the 1st Russian National Army (a collaborationist Russian force within the German Wehrmacht) at the close of World War II; this is depicted in a monument at the border town of Hinterschellenberg, and is marked on the country's tourist map.
In dire financial straits following the war, the Liechtenstein dynasty often resorted to selling family artistic treasures, including for instance the priceless portrait "Ginevra de' Benci" by Leonardo da Vinci, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Art of the United States in 1967. However, the economic condition of Liechtenstein improved rapidly. During the decades following, Liechtenstein prospered, its economy modernizing with the advantage of low corporate tax rates which drew many companies to the country.
The Prince of Liechtenstein is the world's fifth wealthiest head of state, with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. The country's population enjoys one of the world's highest standards of living.
Politics
Politics of Liechtenstein takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the Chief of Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system, though strong powers are still concentrated with the Prince. The Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the Diet.
On November 27, 2005, Liechtenstein voters rejected an initiative that would prohibit abortion, artificial birth control, and living wills in the principality. Instead, a government-sponsored counterproposal, relativising differences and still allowing them to be prohibited phenomena, was ratified with a scarce majority. The anti-abortion initiative was supported by Roman Catholic Archbishop Wolfgang Haas. Hereditary Prince Alois was initially sympathetic to the anti-abortion proposal, but became neutral during the run-up to the vote.
Administrative divisions
Geography
Liechtenstein is situated in the Upper Rhine valley of the European Alps. The entire western border of Liechtenstein is formed by the river. Measured north to south, the country is only about 15 miles (24 km) long. In its east, Liechtenstein rises to higher altitudes; its highest point, the Grauspitz, reaches 2,599 metres (8,527 Template:Ft). Despite its alpine location, prevailing southerly winds make the climate of Liechtenstein rather mild. In winter, the mountain slopes are well suited to winter sports.
New surveys of the country's borders in 2006 have set its area at 160.475 square kilometres, with borders of 77.9 km. [1] Thus, Liechtenstein discovered in 2006 that its borders are 1.9 km (1.2 miles) longer than previously thought as more modern measuring methods have been introduced and measure more accurately the borders in mountainous regions.[2]
Liechtenstein is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world; i.e., a landlocked country wholly surrounded by other landlocked countries. The other is Uzbekistan. It is the only country with a predominantly German-speaking population that does not share a border with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, by land area. The five independent countries smaller than Liechtenstein are Vatican City, Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, and San Marino. See List of countries and outlying territories by total area.
Economy
Despite its small geographic area and limited natural resources, Liechtenstein is currently one of the few countries in the world with more registered companies than citizens; it has developed into a prosperous, highly industrialized, free-enterprise economy, and boasts a financial service sector and also living standard which compare favourably to those of the urban areas of Liechtenstein's large European neighbours. Advantageously low business taxes — the maximum tax rate is 18% — as well as easy Rules of Incorporation have induced about 73,700 holding (or so-called 'letter box') companies to establish nominal offices in Liechtenstein. Such processes provide about 30% of Liechtenstein's state revenue.
Recently, Liechtenstein has shown strong determination to prosecute any international money-laundering and worked to promote the country's image as a legitimate financing center.
Liechtenstein participates in a customs union with Switzerland and employs the Swiss franc as national currency. The country imports more than 90% of its energy requirements. Liechtenstein has been a member of the European Economic Area (an organization serving as a bridge between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Union) since May 1995. The government is working to harmonize its economic policies with those of an integrated Europe. Since 2002, Liechtenstein's rate of unemployment has doubled, although it stood at only 2.2% in the third quarter of 2004. Currently, there is only one hospital in Liechtenstein, the Liechtensteinisches Landesspital in Vaduz. The GDP (PPP) is $1.786 billion[3] and $54,000 per person.
Liechtenstein's most recognizable international company and largest employer is Hilti, a manufacturer of concrete fastening systems. Liechtenstein is also the home of the Curta calculator.
Demographics
Liechtenstein is the fourth smallest country of Europe, after the Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino. Its population is primarily ethnic Alemannic, though its resident population is approximately one third foreign-born, primarily German speakers from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the Swiss Confederation, other (Latin) Swiss, Italians and Turks. Foreign-born people make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. Nationals are referred to by the plural: Liechtensteiners. Liechtenstein is a country with a very high standard of living, higher than Switzerland or the United States.
The official language is German; most speak Alemannic, a dialect of German that is highly divergent from Standard German (see Middle High German), but closely related to those spoken in neighbouring regions. According to the 2000 census, 87.9% of the population is Christian, of which 76% adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, while about 7% are Protestant. The religious confession for most of the remainder is Islam - 4.8%, undeclared - 4.1% and no religion - 2.8% [2].
Transport
There are about 250 kilometres (155 mi) of paved roadway within Liechtenstein, and 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) of railway. The country's railways are administered by the government organization Austrian Federal Railways as part of the route between Feldkirch, Austria, and Buchs SG, Switzerland. Four stations in Liechtenstein, including Schaan-Vaduz, Forst Hilti, Nendeln, and Schaanwald, are served by an irregular stopping train service running between Feldkirch and Buchs. While EuroCity and other long distance international trains also make use of the route, these do not call at Liechtenstein stations. The Liechtenstein Bus is a subsidiary of the Swiss Postbus system, but separately run, and connects to the Swiss bus network at Buchs SG and at Sargans as well as the Austrian city of Feldkirch.
There are also 90 kilometres (56 miles) of marked bicycle path.
Culture
Due to Liechtenstein's small size, the country has been strongly affected by external cultural influences, most notably those originating in the southern German-speaking areas of Europe, including Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, and the Tyrol. The Historical Society of the Principality of Liechtenstein plays a role in preserving the culture and history of the country.
Sport
Liechtenstein football teams play in the Swiss football leagues. The Liechtenstein Cup allows access to one Liechtenstein team each year in the UEFA Cup; FC Vaduz, a team playing in the Swiss Challenge League (i.e. the second level of Swiss football) is the most successful team in the Cup, and scored their greatest success in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 when they defeated the Latvian team FC Universitate Riga by 1–1 and 4–2, to go on to a lucrative fixture against Paris St Germain, which they lost 0–4 and 0–3.
The Liechtenstein national football team has traditionally been regarded as an easy target for any team drawn against them, a fact that served as the basis for a book about Liechtenstein's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup by British author Charlie Connelly. In one surprising week during autumn 2004, however, the team managed a 2–2 draw with Portugal, which only a few months earlier had been the losing finalists in the European Championships. Four days later, the Liechtenstein team travelled to Luxembourg where they defeated the home team by 4 goals to 0 in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match. They are still considered by many to be an easier touch than most; however, they have been steadily improving over the last few years, and are now considered the best of the European "minnows".
As an alpine country, the main opportunity for Liechtensteiners to excel is in winter sports such as downhill skiing: Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympics. With nine medals overall (all in alpine skiing), Liechtenstein has won more Olympic medals per capita than any other nation. The country's single ski area is Malbun.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is considering a bid for either the 2018 Winter Olympics or 2022 Winter Olympics
See also
References and notes
- Liechtenstein — A Modern History by David Beattie, CMG, London, 2004, ISBN 1-85043-459-X
External links
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
- Principality of Liechtenstein - Official site
- History of Liechtenstein: Primary documents
- Template:Wikitravel
- Photos of Liechtenstein
- "Arukikata" Liechtenstein, Travellers guide written in Japanese/English
- Russian Portal about Principality of Liechtenstein
- Sarah Lyall, "For Rent: One Principality. Prince Not Included." New York Times, 25 March 2003.