European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Nuuk on Sunday to sign a joint declaration on a strengthened partnership between the EU and Greenland.
According to reporting by DR, von der Leyen lands in the Greenlandic capital this afternoon. There she meets Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, chairman of Naalakkersuisut.
The three leaders are expected to sign a declaration on a close partnership between the EU and Greenland. The Prime Minister’s Office states that Nielsen hosts the two visitors in Nuuk on September 6 and 7.
According to PubAffairs Bruxelles, citing the European Commission, the declaration is to be signed at the Tusass facilities in Nuuk. The visit also includes the launch of an Enhanced Satellite Connectivity Project for Greenland.
The European Commission’s representation in Denmark says the trip is intended to deepen the EU-Greenland partnership. It also points to the growing strategic importance of the Arctic.
Money and fisheries
Rasmus Leander Nielsen, a lecturer at the University of Greenland, tells DR that the Commission has signaled a near doubling of the support Greenland already receives. As reported by High North News, the Commission has proposed raising EU funding from 225 million euros to 530 million euros over seven years from 2028.
Greenland entered the European Community with Denmark in 1973 and left in 1982. Since then the two sides have cooperated mainly through fisheries agreements, which allow EU vessels to fish for cod, redfish and shrimp in Greenlandic waters.
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Rasmus Leander Nielsen describes the deal as a package that also covers education and green energy. He says EU money is directed primarily at the Greenlandic public school system. He calls the arrangement a partnership more than half a century old that has come back into fashion.
Why now
The lecturer tells DR that the timing is not accidental. Greenland’s foreign strategy from a few years ago placed the United States everywhere, he says. That has shifted, and the US has been toned down after President Donald Trump’s stated wish to own Greenland.
Christian Kjeldsen, chairman of Grønlands Erhverv, says Greenland stands to gain from closer ties with the EU. He describes the territory as an economy in growth that is building a more autonomous economy and needs good trade partners.
Kjeldsen notes that Greenland has merged its business and foreign affairs portfolios in the coalition. He points to infrastructure as a condition for doing more as a society, and to the need to diversify an economy still carried largely by fisheries.
