According to Prime Minister Múte B. Egede, Greenland will not allow itself to be dissuaded from its own path by the expressed desires of US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Greenland and the Greenlandic people decide on Greenland’s future. That is of course the starting point of all the cooperation we have,” said Egede at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen. Frederiksen also emphasized that the Greenlanders themselves determined their future. “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders, no one else,” she said.
Greenland’s head of government wants to remain “master of his own house”.
Trump had previously expressed interest in Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, on several occasions. At a press conference at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, he did not rule out using the military to gain control of the island or the Panama Canal. He had already stated in December: “In the interest of national security and freedom in the world, the United States believes that possession and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Egede now made it clear that the Greenlandic desire to be independent and “master of one’s own house” was understandable for most peoples on earth. “We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders, of course,” he said.
Greenland is largely autonomous
Greenland is part of the North American continent and therefore a place that Americans consider to be part of their continent. We will continue to work with the USA in the future – but in dialogue and on Greenlandic premises.
Greenland is largely autonomous, but officially belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. The largest island in the world receives strong financial support from Copenhagen, and the Danish government also largely decides on foreign and security issues in the so-called Imperial Community. Many Greenlanders have long wanted an independent state – an issue that also plays a major role in the election campaign ahead of a parliamentary election in Greenland this spring.
