Greenland wants more control over foreign policy during coalition talks
Greenland’s newly elected parliamentary representatives are seeking greater autonomy in foreign policy — including the right to meet with foreign governments without Danish officials in the room, reports public broadcaster KNR.
“It matters whether we have to use training wheels when we hold meetings with other countries,” Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s newly elected MP from the party IA, told Danish broadcaster DR.
She said the push is about giving Greenland “the power we need to conduct our own politics.”
The request came as Greenland’s two MPs met with acting Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday, amid coalition talks following last week’s Danish general election.
Foreign policy has been a particular flashpoint for Greenland in recent months, with U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to annex the island. A joint Greenlandic-Danish delegation traveled to Washington in January, meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, exactly the kind of meeting Nathanielsen now suggests Greenland should be able to conduct on its own terms.
Greenland’s second MP, Qarsoq Høegh-Dam of the party Naleraq, has said he expects Greenland to arrive at the negotiations with a single unified position.
When asked by Danish public broadcaster DR how much influence the North Atlantic MPs could realistically expect to wield, given that their votes may not be decisive in forming a government, Høegh-Dam was unfazed.
“Greenland is on the world stage right now. Denmark has a greater engagement. Greenland has the prerogative to be able to make certain demands when it comes to independence,” he said.
Under Denmark’s constitution and Self-Government Act, foreign affairs remain the legal responsibility of Copenhagen.
