Greenland’s
likely new prime minister rejects Trump takeover efforts
‘We don’t
want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders,’
says Jens-Frederik Nielsen
Guardian
staff and agencies in Nuuk
Thu 13 Mar
2025 21.54 CET
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/13/greenland-new-prime-minister-jens-frederik-nielsen
Greenland’s
probable new prime minister has rejected Donald Trump’s effort to take control
of the island, saying Greenlanders must be allowed to decide their own future
as it moves toward independence from Denmark.
Jens-Frederik
Nielsen, whose centre-right Democrats won a surprise victory in this week’s
legislative elections and now must form a coalition government, pushed back on
Thursday against Trump’s repeated claims that the US will annex the island.
“We don’t
want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be
Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future,” Nielsen, 33,
told Sky News. “And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
Greenland’s
outgoing prime minister, Múte Egede, said he would convene a meeting of party
leaders to jointly reject Trump’s threats, warning: “Enough is enough.”
“This time
we need to toughen our rejection of Trump. People cannot continue to disrespect
us,” Egede wrote on Facebook.
Egede
continues to lead Greenland while a new government is formed.
“The
American president has once again evoked the idea of annexing us. I absolutely
cannot accept that,” he wrote.
“I respect
the result of the election, but I consider that I have an obligation as interim
head of government: I have therefore asked the administration to summon the
party heads as soon as possible.”
The comments
came after Trump repeated his vow to take over the island on Thursday.
During an
Oval Office meeting with the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, Trump claimed
that Greenland’s election had been “very good for us,” adding: “The person who
did the best is a very good person, as far as we’re concerned.”
Asked
whether he thought the US would annex Greenland, Trump said: “I think it’ll
happen.”
Trump said
that “Denmark’s very far away” from Greenland and questioned whether that
country still had a right to claim the world’s largest island.
“A boat
landed there 200 years ago or something. And they say they have rights to it,”
Trump said. “I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.”
Trump said
US control of Greenland could be important for national security reasons and
even suggested Nato should be involved, but Rutte demurred.
Nato 'might
have to get involved' in US takeover of Greenland, says Trump – video
2:49
Nato 'might
have to get involved' in US takeover of Greenland, says Trump – video
With most
Greenlanders opposing Trump’s overtures, the election campaign focused more on
issues such as healthcare and education than on geopolitics.
The 31 men
and women elected to parliament on Tuesday will have to set priorities for
issues such as diversifying Greenland’s economy, building infrastructure and
improving healthcare, as well as shaping the country’s strategy for countering
the US president’s “America first” agenda.
The
Democrats won 29.9% of the vote by campaigning to improve housing and
educational standards while delaying independence until Greenland is
self-sufficient. Four years ago, the party finished in fourth place with 9.1%.
Nuuk
resident Anthon Nielsen said the party’s victory would be good for the country.
“Most
politicians want Greenland to be independent,” he said. “But this party who
won, they don’t want to hurry things, so everything must be done right.”
Carina Ren,
head of the Arctic program at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, said the
results show that Greenlanders tried to ignore Trump and focus on issues that
were important to them.
“The voters
have been able to drag down all the drama, all the alarmist talk from the
outside to say: ‘Well, this is about our everyday lives, our everyday concerns
as citizens. Where are we going, how are we going to develop our society from
the inside.’”
Now,
Demokraatit will have to turn its attention to forming a governing coalition.
Naleraq, the
most aggressively pro-independence party, finished in second place, with 24.5%
of the vote. It was followed by Inuit Ataqatigiit, which led the last
government, at 21.4%.
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