(AFP) – The day after winning Greenland’s elections, the centre-right Democrats hunkered down Wednesday to strategise about building a coalition government that could set out a path to independence for the autonomous Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Trump’s threats to take over the resource-rich Arctic island have shined an unprecedented global spotlight on Greenlandic politics. All the parties, and the majority of the island’s 57,000 inhabitants, back independence. But the parties — including the two that came out on top, the opposition centre-right Democrats and the nationalist Naleraq party — disagree on how quickly the process should go.
The Democrats unexpectedly tripled their score to win 29.9 percent of votes. They want Greenland to cut ties with Denmark only after it has secured its own financial independence. Naleraq, which doubled its score to 24.5 percent, wants to break free as soon as possible. The election dealt a heavy blow to the two parties in the outgoing government coalition, the left-green Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) and the social-democratic Siumut. They had dominated the island’s politics since it was granted home rule in 1979.
The Democrats’ deputy leader Anna Wangenheim told AFP they were “going to talk with every party” about forming a coalition government. “We don’t know who we are going to collaborate with, but we are open to discuss and debate” future policies, she said, adding that talks would be held in the “coming days”.
– Setting a timetable –
The Democrats’ party leadership met Wednesday to hammer out its negotiation strategy. “Which approach to independence will win the day will ultimately depend on if the Democrats decide to form a coalition government, and if so, with which party,” said Dwayne Menezes, head of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative. If the Democrats “choose to form a government with Naleraq, they would have to speed up their platform on independence and state formation,” an Arctic expert at the University of Copenhagen, Lill Rastad Bjorst, told AFP. With Naleraq, the Democrats “will likely face constant and explicit demands to outline a concrete plan for the process,” added professor Anne Merrild at the University of Aalborg.
Naleraq says it envisages independence within a few years. On election day, party leader Pele Broberg noted that the exits of Greenland and Britain from the European Union each took three years. “Why take longer?” Broberg told AFP. But the party showed signs Wednesday that it was ready to compromise. “We can’t have independence immediately but we would like to start the official process,” Kuno Fencker, elected to parliament for Naleraq, told AFP, saying that his party and the Democrats had many similarities.
Some voters and experts have expressed concern that a hasty break from Denmark could fuel Trump’s ambitions. Independence “is important, but I don’t think it’s going to happen now, especially with how the world is,” 23-year-old Nanna Jensen told AFP. “I think if we become independent right now, America is going to take over.” Trump has refused to rule out the use of force to “get Greenland,” invoking US national security given rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic region. The Democrats could also choose to collaborate with IA, in which case “they can stick to their own agenda and focus on building economic growth first,” Rastad Bjorst said. Greenland depends heavily on its fisheries sector, which accounts for almost all of its exports, and annual Danish subsidies of more than $565 million, equivalent to a fifth of its GDP.
– Call for unity –
The 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government allows the territory to unilaterally initiate the independence process. It stipulates that talks be held between the Danish and Greenlandic governments to reach an agreement. That then has to be approved by the Greenlandic parliament, endorsed by a referendum on the island, and voted on by the Danish parliament. “Greenland needs us to remain united, which will be the basis of our negotiations,” Democrats leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a televised roundtable on election night. He also noted two priorities of his campaign, “a calm approach towards the United States” and the building of a “foundation” to enable the creation of a Greenlandic state.
Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute of International Affairs, said he expected the Democrats to follow a moderate path. Now that voters had rejected Trump’s advances, the new government’s task will be “to channel his interest towards economic cooperation,” he said.
– Pierre-Henry DESHAYES, with Camille BAS-WOHLERT in Copenhagen.
© 2024 AFP
