Greenland pauses vote on US defence deal after confidentiality complaint

Greenland’s parliament has paused its approval of a defence agreement with the United States after the parliament’s leadership filed a police complaint against opposition party Naleraq over an alleged breach of confidentiality, DR reports.

The agreement was signed by Greenland, the United States and Denmark in New York on September 22. The parliament’s debate had been under way for less than an hour when proceedings were suspended for 45 minutes. The leadership then announced the complaint.

Foreign Minister Múte B. Egede accused Naleraq of publishing confidential information shared with the parliament’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee during a closed meeting. He said the information was included in a minority statement by the party and could harm Greenland’s international reputation.

Naleraq’s statement criticised the agreement because, in the party’s view, Greenland would not receive a greater financial benefit from it. Pele Broberg told Greenlandic media outlet Sermitsiaq that the statement had been approved by the committee and sent to the parliament’s leadership, which later published it.