New nation gets off ground with tents

Liberland, a self-proclaimed libertarian oasis

ROME • The first citizens will arrive Friday to populate the world’s newest self-declared country — Liberland, a tiny patch of woodland and fields on the sandy banks of the River Danube.

The establishment of the pocket-sized nation was declared earlier this month on land wedged between Croatia and Serbia, which, its founders argue, was never properly claimed by either country. Liberland has its own flag, which features an eagle and a sun, a constitution, and a motto — “To live and let live.”

Its self-appointed ruler is Vit Jedlicka, a conservative, antiEU Czech politician and admirer of Britain’s Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP.

Known officially as the Free Republic of Liberland, the country’s independence was formally declared on April 13.

Some 120 would-be citizens are expected to arrive today for what is being called the state’s first Liberty Day. Prospective Liberlanders are encouraged to bring food, beer and “all necessary equipment for comfortable survival in nature,” including tents and sleeping bags.

As yet, there are no houses on the three-square-mile sliver of territory, which is named on maps as Gornja Siga.

The first 100 people to turn up to the site, which lies at the end of a dusty road on the west bank of the Danube, will be granted honorary citizenship. Liberland has not been recognized by any other country, least of all Serbia or Croatia, but that has not stopped 300,000 people around the world from applying for honorary citizenship.

Citizenship is open to anyone unless they have “Communist, Nazi or any other extremist past” or have a criminal record, according to the microstate’s constitution.

Liberland’s right to exist may be legally questionable but its founders are, nonetheless, dreaming of building a thriving, free-market economy — a sort of Balkan Hong Kong, with a large population living in yetto-be built skyscrapers.

The fact that their new country occupies such a modest amount of space is no impediment to nationhood, they say — both the Vatican City State and Monaco are smaller.

The founders claim that Liberland is neither a stunt nor an elaborate joke but a serious proposition based on the fact that the patch of land is “terra nullius” — unclaimed by any other country.

“This is about limiting the powers of the state. Governments have grown so big. The system is immoral, but I found that it was impossible to change it from within so we are going to change it from the outside,” Jedlicka said.

“We are part of a great libertarian movement that is growing around the world.”