Greenland, Trump’s goals and the will for independence impacts the vote | EUROtoday

Listen to the audio model of the article

We vote in Greenland to elect the brand new nationwide parliament. In the previous, the information had by no means had nice resonance exterior the capital Nuk and – though virtually solely mirrored – in Copenhagen. Tomorrow’s vote, nevertheless, can have a specific which means for the nation and past.

The “merit” is by the American president, Donald Trumpwhose declarations of intent on the management of Greenland – strategic island within the Arctic and filled with pure sources – may situation the alternatives of the roughly 41,000 voters known as to decide on the 31 members of the native parliament. The American president continues to reiterate that he desires to take management of Greenland “in one way or another”, regardless of being a largely inhospitable territory and whose floor is 80% frozen. “As I clarified in my speech at the Congress, the United States firmly support the Greenish people’s right to determine their future,” Trump wrote in a submit on Truth a couple of hours after the vote. «We are prepared to speculate billions of {dollars} to create new jobs and make them wealthy. And, if they need it, we’ll welcome them to the most important nation on the planet: the United States of America, “he added.

Already during his first term, Trump had presented an official offer to Denmark to buy Greenland, underlining the strategic importance of the island on which since 1950 the United States maintains the spatial base of Pituffikik, in the north-west. Even then, the responses of Copenhagen and Nuuk had been clear: the Danish premier, Mette Frederiksendefined the idea of ​​selling Greenland to the United States “absurd” and reiterated that the island “shouldn’t be on the market”. FrederiKsen stressed that Greenland is an autonomous region with the right to decide its future and that Trump’s proposal had no realistic foundation.

For his part, even the then Greenland premier, Kim Kielsen, firmly rejected the idea, stating that Greenland had no intention of being sold to another nation and that he would continue to work for his own autonomy and, one day, independence from Denmark. The episode led to a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Denmark. After the refusal, Trump canceled an official visit to Copenhagen scheduled for September 2019, defining Frederiksen “disagreeable” for the way he had rejected the proposal.