Greenland seeks strategic partnership with the EU

The Government of Greenland, Naalakkersuisut, sees the possibility for closer cooperation with the EU.

This is stated by the chairman of the Government of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, at a press conference in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg.

Here, Jens-Frederik Nielsen will on Wednesday, as the first chairman of a Greenlandic government, give a speech to the EU Parliament.

This comes with a thank you to the EU countries for their support during the recent months of pressure from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to take over Greenland from Denmark.

– We are very grateful for the support we receive. The last six to eight months have been a bit strange to say the least, says Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

He states that Greenland wants partnerships with “like-minded” countries and international organizations. This also applies to the EU:

– We would like to see more cooperation and a strategic partnership with the EU.

– A good and strong cooperation with the EU and the EU countries can benefit both parties, says Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

As part of the Danish Realm, Greenland became a member of the EU when Denmark joined the then EEC on January 1, 1973.

However, after an advisory referendum, Greenland chose to leave the EEC effective February 1, 1985.

And Greenland is not on its way back into the EU.

This was stated by Jens-Frederik Nielsen at last week’s meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Copenhagen.

However, the Greenlandic government leader sees potential for strengthened cooperation with the EU in areas such as tourism, renewable energy, and raw materials.

The EU is particularly keen on cooperation in energy and raw materials, where Greenland has a number of the critical raw materials identified by the EU Commission.

The critical raw materials are crucial for the green transition, as they are used in batteries for electric vehicles, among other things.

The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated last week in Copenhagen that the EU also wishes to expand cooperation.

Therefore, the EU Commission has proposed to double the support for Greenland in the proposal for the next EU budget.

If the EU countries and the EU Parliament agree to this proposal, four billion kroner will be allocated to Greenland in the budget that will apply from 2028 to 2034.

– We want to deepen our cooperation. Therefore, we aim to double our financial support for Greenland so that we can provide clean energy and create the technologies of the future, wrote von der Leyen on X during the EPC meeting in Copenhagen last week.

The proposed amount from the EU Commission is “promising,” says Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

He emphasizes, however, that a closer relationship with the EU does not exclude Greenlandic cooperation with the USA, as long as it is “respectful.”