Greenland’s PM calls for closer EU ties on strategic minerals
Greenland‘s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said his government is ready to accelerate efforts to deepen ties with the European Union, highlighting the Arctic island’s strategic importance amid global competition for resources.
Greenland is going through “challenging times” but the EU has been a “steadfast friend,” Nielsen said on Wednesday, without directly mentioning US President Donald Trump’s threat to annex the self-ruling Danish territory.
Nielsen, addressing lawmakers in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, said that when it comes to the critical minerals that underpin everything from batteries to high-tech defence systems, Greenland is ready to “hasten the pace” of cooperation with the EU.
Nielsen urged the 27-nation bloc to make investments in Greenland, including its vast deposits of rare earths, which have the potential to “shift global and security balances.”
He noted that Greenland possesses 24 of the 34 raw materials the EU has identified as critical and that its mining sector is ready to play a key role in ensuring supplies for Europe and beyond.
Nielsen also pointed to Greenland‘s untapped hydropower potential as a means to support the EU’s green transition away from fossil fuels.
The prime minister welcomed the European Commission’s plan to more than double financial support for Greenland, with over €500 million ($581 million) expected to flow from the EU’s next multi-annual budget.
When it comes to the United States, he said that Greenland would remain open to cooperation if there is “mutual respect” and “respect for international law.”
Trump has said that Greenland needs to come under Washington’s control “one way or the other,” singling out the island’s untapped mineral resources. He has also cast the acquisition as part of a scramble for the Arctic by powers such as China and Russia.
