Mette Frederiksen, Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen / AFP / Profimedia
Greenland has made it clear that it is not for sale, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday, in response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s fixation on buying the massive Arctic island, writes Politico.
Mette Frederiksen stated that the Prime Minister of Greenland, Múte Egede, “was very, very clear that there is majority support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be for sale in the future”, reports News.ro citing Politico.
The Danish leader’s remarks come after Donald Trump suggested buying Greenland from Denmark last month, saying a US purchase of the Arctic territory was an “absolute necessity”. He also made this proposal in 2019, during his first term, which drew a rebuke from Frederiksen.
Trump does not rule out an annexation by force
On Tuesday, however, the president-elect went even further, and in a press conference he did not rule out the use of force to take control of Greenland. The Danish Prime Minister’s comments were made before these new statements.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., landed in Greenland on Tuesday in what he called a private visit. In his entourage, however, were conservative activist Charlie Kirk and his father’s chief of staff, Sergio Gor. Donald Trump described them as his representatives.
“Don Jr. and my representatives landed in Greenland. The reception was great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, power and PEACE! This is a business that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN !” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday.
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”
Five years after rejecting Trump’s Arctic aspirations, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated that “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.”
“On the one hand, I am happy about the growing American interest in Greenland,” Frederiksen said on Tuesday in an interview with the Danish broadcaster TV 2 “But, of course, it is important that it happens in a way that the decision belongs to the Greenlander, what the future holds for them.”
Greenland, the world’s largest island with a population of about 60,000, was a Danish colony until it became autonomous with its own parliament in 1979. Greenland remains a territory of Denmark, with Copenhagen exercising the control of its foreign and defense policy.
As world powers seek to expand their reach and footprint in the Arctic, mineral-rich Greenland – which is also home to a US military base – is coveted for its strategic security and value commercial
Mette Frederiksen, who in 2019 described Trump’s offer to buy the island as “absurd”, said it was up to Greenlanders to decide their own future, calling the growing independence movement in the ‘legitimate’ island.
“I can see a strong desire among many Greenlanders to move towards independence,” he said. “It is legitimate and therefore I think it is important that the future of Greenland is formed in Nuuk (the capital of Greenland),” said the Danish prime minister.
Under a 2009 agreement with Denmark, Greenland can only declare independence after a valid referendum – which its leader Egede appeared to suggest during his New Year’s speech could be held alongside future parliamentary elections d ‘April.
