Lawmakers from the Danish autonomous territory which is Greenland are currently in debate on joining the European Union.
This comes after a recent meeting between Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Copenhagen with the occasion of the European Political Community summit.
Von der Leyen told Nielsen that the European Union wanted to “deepen [its] cooperation” with Greenland.
Greenland has been holding referendums on joining Europe since the 1970s, when Greenland was still a province of Denmark.
At that point in 1972, 70% of Greenlanders voted against joining Europe economically, while most Danes voted for it. It was this show of representation which in fact precipitated Greenland’s autonomy by the end of that decade.
It is thus reasonable to assume that they put political and cultural pride in their independence. But the country may be pushed to seek European support in order to push away…pretenders.
In 2019, Donald Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland for the USA.
Greenland lives by fishing and green growth — but in truth, Denmark and the EU’s support has always been there for the tiny population. And now, Brussels has announced its intention to double its financial support to Greenland under the next seven-year EU budget.
Call it a counteroffer.
That means a rise from €32 million to €76 million from 2028.
Greenland’s prime minister will deliver a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on October 8.
