dpa
nuuk
The EU plans to deepen its cooperation with Greenland despite US President Donald Trump’s claims of control over the Arctic island, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived on Sunday for a two-day visit.
Von der Leyen travelled to the resource-rich island, where a new EU-Greenland declaration is to be signed on Monday. Investment pledges running into the hundreds of millions are also expected.
On her arrival, von der Leyen said the visit was about further cementing a unique partnership. “We are family,” she wrote on social media.
Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but is largely autonomous and not a member of the European Union. Von der Leyen was received at Nuuk airport by Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
At a brief joint press appearance, Nielsen said von der Leyen’s visit represented a very close friendship, a good partnership and something they wanted to build on further.
He then set off with the Commission president and Frederiksen on a boat trip through the Arctic landscape as the first major item on the programme.The visit is politically charged because the US has been pressing claims on Greenland, citing security interests, and has sought to force a sale of the vast island to the United States.
Trump has argued that Denmark cannot protect the world’s largest island from Russia and China. The territory, home to just under 57,000 people, is also of interest due to its extensive reserves of critical raw materials.
Trump last renewed his claims on Greenland in July, linking them to an ongoing review of US troop deployments in Europe. He suggested the US could scale back its contribution to deterring Russia if no satisfactory agreement on Greenland’s future was reached.
It remained unclear whether Trump still considers himself bound by an agreement brokered in January by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
That deal had been intended to guarantee Arctic security through joint allied action – in particular by the seven Arctic allies: the US, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
According to sources within NATO, the US is also to be allowed to expand its military presence on Greenland and may receive a degree of co-decision rights over certain investments.