Ærø Municipality

Ærø Municipality is a municipality (Danish, kommune) occupying the 88 km² island of Ærø in southern Denmark. The municipality belongs to Region of Southern Denmark. The municipality also encompasses Birkholm and the uninhabited islands Lilleø, Dejrø and Halmø.

Ærø municipality Ærø Kommune
Municipalities of Denmark
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Denmark
Region	Region of Southern Denmark
Founded	1 January 2006
Government
• Mayor	Ole Wej Petersen
Area
• Total	91 km2 (35 sq mi)
Population  (2019 (January))
• Total	6,058
• Density	67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC2 (CEST)
Website	http://visitaeroe.dk/

The first mayor of Ærø was Jørgen Otto Jørgensen (born 21 December 1950, Marstal) a member of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) political party, until 2005 mayor of Ærøskøbing Municipality. The most populous town is Marstal and the seat of the municipal council is Ærøskøbing.

The municipality was created as a result of the municipal reform of 2007, through a merger of Marstal and Ærøskøbing municipalities. However, the new municipality nonetheless agreed to enter into a "municipal cooperation agreement" with Svendborg Municipality.[1]

The Danish municipal reform was implemented Monday 1 January 2007, but politicians on Ærø were given the go-ahead to unify the island one year ahead of the rest of the municipalities that were merged as a result of the reform. From 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2006 Ærø Municipality belonged to Funen County.

The result is a municipality with an area of 91 km² and a population today of 6,058 (1 January 2019). In January 1985 8429 people lived on the area of the present municipality, and in January 2006 6873 people. The new municipality belonged to Funen County in 2006 and is part of the new Region of Southern Denmark from 1 January 2007.