Greenland wants a stronger EU presence over the territory’s critical raw materials needed to build new clean energy technologies such as solar panels and batteries, Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish parliament for Greenland’s left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) separatist party, told Euronews. 

“We (IA) would like to see the EU much more engaged when it comes to rare earths. We know that 73% of everything the EU needs when it comes to rare earths can be found in Greenland, and right now we have more or less a Chinese monopoly when it comes to rare earths,” she pointed out, seeing an opportunity for the EU to invest in this area.    

In recent years, the EU has pushed for greater cooperation with the island on energy and rare earths, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited the island last March to open an EU office in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.    

However, Chemnitz believes that the EU and Denmark have not paid enough attention to Greenlanders but now have a window of opportunity to strengthen relations with the island in a “more realistic way”, including on defence and security.  

Greenland’s largest party, IA, is currently “concerned” about the security situation in the Arctic after US President-elect Donald Trump’s staked claimto the world’s largest island and given Russia’s national interest in the region, the MP stressed.   

“I think finding ways to cooperate with a new ally is not (by) threatening them,” Chemnitz said, referring to Trump’s refusal to rule out military intervention to take over Greenland.   

Chemnitz, who chairs the Greenland committee in the Danish parliament, argued that given the strategic interests of power players such as the US, the EU, Russia or China, it will be crucial for her territory to find out which countries and regions Greenland can cooperate with in the future.    

“I see that of course Denmark, the EU, but also the US is someone we can cooperate with, but I think it should be very specific (cooperation), especially with the US,” the Greenlandic MP stressed, citing issues such as critical raw materials, tourism, education and defence.   

The sea routes around Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, offer the shortest route from North America to Europe, and the US President-elect wants the strategic edge for his military and its ballistic missile early warning system.    

The US has demonstrated an eagerness to expand its military presence in Greenland by placing radars in the waters between Greenland, Iceland, and the UK – but security and foreign affairs are still managed from Copenhagen.    

Greenland’s independence from Denmark a ‘long-term goal’

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said earlier this week that his government was ready to work more closely with the US on defence and mining, but on its own terms.    

“We do not want to be Danes, we do not want to be Americans – of course we want to be Greenlanders,” Egede told a press conference in Copenhagen on Friday.    

Egede, who has led the Inuit Ataqatigiit party since 2018, has made clear that it will be for the almost 57,000 Greenlanders to decide on their own future and agreements, and that remaining part of the Kingdom of Denmark is not an option.    

Since 2009, Greenland has had the right to declare independence through a referendum, and Egede has previously hinted that a possible referendum could take place during Greenland’s new political mandate – but for Chemnitz, his party colleague, this is more of a “long-term goal”.    

“I don’t see it happening because I don’t see the plan for it, and I don’t think there is a shortcut to independence, even though it is the biggest wish and dream for many of us in Greenland,” she said.  

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For now, the Greenlander sees the need to diversify and boost Greenland’s cooperation with other global players, and to focus on next spring’s parliamentary elections.    

“The government of Denmark has done a good job in recognising that every decision about Greenland’s future is up to the people of Greenland,” Chemnitz said, adding that “it is important to say ‘hands off’ when it comes to Denmark, but also the EU, but also the US, Russia, China and so on when it comes to the elections”.