Greenland’s MPs Demand Foreign Policy Power from Denmark

Femi Ajakaye

April 1, 2026
8:19 am

Greenland’s two newly elected members of parliament are heading to government negotiations in Copenhagen with a unified message: they want more power over foreign policy and they’re willing to use their mandates as leverage. For once, political rivals in Nuuk are speaking with one voice when it comes to Denmark.

Naaja Nathanielsen and Qarsoq Høegh-Dam don’t agree on much back home. She’s from the governing Inuit Ataqatigiit party. He’s opposition, from Naleraq. But today they’re walking into Marienborg together, and they’ve already had coffee with Greenland’s premier to align their strategy. The message they’re bringing to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is simple: Greenland wants to negotiate its own foreign policy without Danish officials hovering in the background.

Høegh-Dam can barely remember the name of the place where he’s meeting the prime minister. He knows Holsteinsborg, the old colonial name for Sisimiut. Marienborg? That takes him a second. But he knows exactly what he wants from this meeting. As he puts it, Greenland now has a strong hand to play against Denmark.

The End of Training Wheels

Nathanielsen, who’s leaving a ministerial post in Nuuk to take up the Folketing seat, frames it more diplomatically but the demand is the same. She talks about not needing “training wheels” when Greenland meets with other countries. Right now, under both the Danish constitution and the Self-Government Act, foreign and security policy belongs to Copenhagen. But that same act gives Greenland the right to participate in decisions that affect it, and in some cases to decide for itself.

The question is how far that flexibility stretches. With the world knocking on Greenland’s door, as Nathanielsen says, and with the United States openly questioning Denmark’s sovereignty over the island, Greenland’s autonomy is no longer an abstract legal principle. It’s live diplomacy. And Greenland wants to do more of that diplomacy on its own.

Both politicians make it clear they plan to keep living in Nuuk. Høegh-Dam, born and raised there and planning to be buried there, will use the Copenhagen apartment that comes with the job as little as possible. They represent Greenland the constituency, not Copenhagen the institution. That physical distance matters when you’re trying to assert political distance too.

A Geopolitical Crisis as Opportunity

The timing of these negotiations is no accident. In January, Greenland’s premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen stood next to Mette Frederiksen at a joint press conference and said that if Greenland had to choose between the United States and Denmark, it would choose Denmark. That was a remarkable moment of unity during what both governments described as a geopolitical crisis. But unity in the face of external pressure doesn’t mean Greenland is satisfied with the status quo.

Nathanielsen wants to open a broader conversation about the future of the Kingdom. She points out that it’s been 70 years since the Danish constitution was last changed, and Greenland didn’t get to vote on it. That was 1953, when Greenland went from colony to Danish county and Greenlanders became Danish citizens, all without a referendum in Greenland. She’s not sure the current constitutional framework still works. She’s looking forward to hearing what Frederiksen thinks about that.

Høegh-Dam is more blunt. He sees the election result, where he became Greenland’s biggest vote getter with 4,619 personal votes, as a signal that Greenlanders want change in the relationship with Denmark. The politicians who got in, he says, were the ones who said the Folketing might soon be a thing of the past. That’s not a subtle hint.

The North Atlantic Mandates on the Table

Both Greenlandic MPs and their counterparts from the Faroe Islands are part of today’s meeting at Marienborg. These four North Atlantic mandates have always been a quirk of Danish politics, a reminder that the Kingdom is more than just the mainland. But in a tight election, those mandates can carry weight beyond their numbers. And right now, Greenland is going through its own internal political crisis, with a government breakdown in Nuuk that reflects deeper tensions. That instability could paradoxically increase the leverage these mandates hold in Copenhagen.

Nathanielsen has a warning for Danish politicians and commentators before she leaves for the capital. Don’t fall into the trap of dividing Greenlandic politicians into “good” and “bad” ones, she says. Don’t decide that one is easy to work with and the other is difficult. She insists that Denmark needs to work equally well with both her and Høegh-Dam, despite their different approaches. It’s a pointed reminder that Greenland is not a monolith and that treating it like one, or worse, trying to pick favorites, will backfire.

I’ve covered enough negotiations in this part of the world to know that what’s said in public before a meeting is often more revealing than what’s said after. Nathanielsen and Høegh-Dam are setting expectations. They’re also setting limits. They want more control over foreign policy. They want a conversation about the constitutional framework. And they want to be treated as equals, not as junior partners who should be grateful for a seat at the table.

What Happens Next

The practical question is how much Frederiksen is willing or able to give. Her government needs stability, and these four mandates could matter in a fragmented parliament. But constitutional change is slow and complicated, and expanding Greenlandic foreign policy authority touches on NATO, the EU, and Arctic security. Those aren’t areas where Denmark can move quickly or unilaterally.

What’s clear is that the conversation has shifted. Greenland is no longer asking for permission. It’s negotiating terms. And whether or not the North Atlantic mandates eventually disappear, the politicians holding them right now know they have leverage. They’re using it.