Greenland and EU strengthen partnership as focus shifts from Trump

Greenland and the European Union are expected to deepen their cooperation on Sunday, when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Nuuk to sign a joint declaration with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, head of Greenland’s government, DR reports.

The declaration is intended to establish a closer partnership between the EU and Greenland, according to the Danish Prime Minister’s Office.

The timing reflects a shift in Greenland’s international priorities, said Rasmus Leander Nielsen, a lecturer at the University of Greenland. He said the United States had previously featured prominently in Greenland’s foreign strategy, but that President Donald Trump’s stated desire to own Greenland had pushed the EU higher on the agenda.

“Greenland came out with a foreign strategy just a few years ago in which the United States was everywhere. That has changed. The United States has now been toned down considerably because of Trump, while alternative partners, especially the EU, have been given greater importance,” Nielsen said.

A broad package of cooperation

Greenland reluctantly joined the then European Community when Denmark entered in 1973, but voted to leave in 1982. Greenland and the EU have continued to cooperate, particularly through fisheries agreements, and that relationship is now being strengthened, Nielsen said.

“It is actually a partnership more than half a century old that has become fashionable again,” he said.

Financial support is also expected to form part of the partnership. The European Commission has signalled that it could nearly double the favourable support Greenland already receives, according to Nielsen.

Education is another element, primarily through funding for Greenland’s primary schools. Green energy is also becoming a larger part of the cooperation, Nielsen said.

In return, the EU continues to benefit from the fisheries agreement, which allows EU vessels to fish for cod, redfish and shrimp in Greenland.

The agreement is also expected to include funding for an infrastructure project brought forward by von der Leyen and the European Commission.

Business sector expects benefits

Christian Kjeldsen, chairman of Greenland’s business organisation, said Greenland could gain substantially from closer ties with the EU.

“We are a large country, but also a small country, and we are an economy in growth. We are developing a more autonomous economy, and that requires good trading partners,” he said.

He described stronger cooperation with the EU as a natural step. The decision to combine the business and foreign affairs ministries in Greenland’s coalition government showed that foreign policy was being treated as trade policy, Kjeldsen said.

He also acknowledged that Greenland would have to contribute to the partnership.

“We are moving from being a closed circuit to becoming part of a larger open circuit. So there is also something we must provide to keep Greenland attractive and to develop and maintain the partnership,” he said.

Kjeldsen pointed to infrastructure as a prerequisite for expanding both society and business. Greenland’s economy is currently heavily dependent on fishing, he said, while its business sector is needed to diversify the economy.