The European Union wants to be more present in Greenland. While at the White House, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been insisting for months on annexing the Arctic island, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has traveled to Von der Leyen to announce a new strategy towards the island that includes 200 million euros more in investments and also a strengthening of political ties with the Danish autonomous territory, whose future, she has insisted, concerns only Greenland and Denmark “and no one else.”
“Territorial integrity, sovereignty, and the inviolability of borders are fundamental principles of international law,” the German conservative recalled, without directly naming Trump, in a statement alongside the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, and the Greenlandic Premier, Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
Investments are in strategic sectors such as connectivity, critical raw materials, and renewable energies
Von der Leyen has signed a cooperation agreement that includes this additional financial package for this year and the next, with investments focused on three main priorities: satellite connectivity, energy self-sufficiency through renewable sources, and critical raw materials, one of the reasons why Trump is so interested in the island. It represents a significant increase in European funding allocated to this territory – between 7 and 8% of the Dutch Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – and reflects the “clear choice of the Greenlanders to strengthen ties with the EU,” the German leader indicated.
According to the community vision, “this will generate new opportunities and contribute to a strong and committed EU both in Greenland and in the Arctic,” but it also highlights “Europe’s great interest in having also made a decision, that of having a greater presence and greater commitment in Greenland and in the Arctic.”
Read more Closes the historic pizzeria La Pava de Gavà
Also read
In his second term, the US President, Donald Trump, has insisted on acquiring Greenland, something he has not forgotten despite the fact that the situation is currently being discreetly negotiated by a working group made up of US, Greenlandic, and Danish representatives who must continue negotiating until the end of the year. In July, on the sidelines of the NATO leaders summit in Ankara, the magnate repeated from the presidential palace of Recep T. Erdogan that the island “should be under US control, and not Denmark’s.”
EU direct investments in Greenland anticipate a new strategy for the Arctic that the EU will present at the end of October, a document that will no longer define the region as the “far north,” but will classify it as the “northern neighborhood” of the community bloc to emphasize the importance these waters represent for Europe. In addition, the Commission has proposed more than doubling the financial aid allocated to this territory to exceed 530 million euros for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the future EU budget that will cover the next seven years, and which the community capitals are currently negotiating.
During her second day on the Arctic island, Von der Leyen, Frederiksen, and Nielsen visited a historic abandoned settlement in Qoornock and a Danish frigate, among other stops. The trip coincides with the start of NATO exercises in Greenland, part of the Atlantic Alliance’s efforts to convince Washington that it is protected. Four hundred soldiers from eleven NATO countries, including Denmark, France, and Germany, will participate, training jointly on land, sea, and air in southern Greenland and also in the western fjords, as part of Operation Arctic Sentinel to strengthen control in this critical global area.
Read more Santander begins to shine as the new cultural beacon of the north
