EU targets Greenland’s digital infrastructure as Tusass reports rising interest

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is visiting Greenland with funding and a partnership agreement aimed at strengthening ties, including cooperation on telecommunications, DR reports. Greenland’s self-rule-owned telecommunications company Tusass says it has noticed the EU’s growing interest.

Tusass chief executive Jonas Hasselriis points to what resembles a giant golf ball on a Greenlandic mountainside. Inside is a well-protected satellite that helps connect towns and settlements across Greenland.

“The way we provide communications here in the Arctic, I do not think you do it in many other places in the world,” Hasselriis says.

He says the company operates in extreme conditions, providing communications in temperatures below minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius and amid powerful winds on mountain peaks. Those conditions are part of what makes Tusass relevant to the EU.

The EU’s office in Greenland says on social media that von der Leyen, Greenland’s head of government Jens Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will, among other things, launch a project to improve satellite connectivity.

EU-Greenland cooperation has previously focused mainly on fisheries, education and the green transition. This year, infrastructure, telecommunications and digital technologies have gained a more prominent place on the agenda.

In January, Jozef Síkela, the EU commissioner for international partnerships, described the bloc’s growing interest in Greenland. “In the Arctic, digital connectivity equals security, but it is also a foundation for education and knowledge,” he wrote.

The European Commission also expressed support for Greenland and Denmark and proposed doubling the EU budget allocation for Greenland.

Rasmus Leander Nielsen, head of the foreign policy research centre at the University of Greenland, says the timing of the EU’s heightened interest is unlikely to be accidental.

“It can almost be answered with a surname: Trump. He has had a very, very significant impact on the geopolitical context for Greenland,” he says.

Nielsen says the EU has been interested in Greenland for a long time, but Greenland itself also appears to be taking a greater interest in the EU. He points to a shift from a foreign policy strategy that focused heavily on the United States.

“Both the head of government and various ministers and politicians here in Greenland are speaking more warmly about the EU and the cooperation that could take place,” he says.

Tusass has also been involved in discussions about possible cooperation. “We have felt the EU’s interest for at least the past year or two,” Hasselriis says.

He says it has been particularly interesting to discuss possible solutions in Greenland that could also be used elsewhere.