Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
by Cosimo Graziani
Nuuk (Agenzia Fides) - Although globalization has been the subject of much criticism recently, perhaps never before have local elections with fewer than sixty thousand voters made such headlines as this year. Yet Greenland, the huge island under Danish sovereignty but geographically part of North America, is preparing for the elections on March 11, on which the eyes of the world are focused.
This attention is further heightened by the comments of US President Donald Trump, who, shortly before his swearing-in on January 21, proposed, as he did during his first term, that the United States should take control of the island, citing its strategic economic importance for the United States. Denmark, a country allied with the United States and a member of NATO, immediately replied that the island was not for sale and that the decision on its future concerns only its inhabitants.
Greenland has been an autonomous territory since the 1970s and in 2009 it was granted the right to hold a referendum on its independence from Copenhagen. Over the past sixteen years, the independence debate - also in relation to the colonial past with its dark sides - has been at the forefront of local politics and has gained even more force after Trump's comments, also because the US president's comments came in the last weeks of the local legislative period.
The reason why Greenland is viewed with so much interest from Washington is its strategic location. It lies between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, in a crucial position for controlling part of the trade routes that could open up with the melting of the ice at the North Pole. This is a geopolitical area of tension between the world's major powers: the United States, Russia and China. In the long term, this could also be of interest to the European Union.
The Arctic route of greatest interest to the United States is the Northwest Passage, which runs through northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland. It is one of three routes that could open up as the ice melts. The other two are the Trans-Arctic Route, which runs right through the Arctic Ocean, and the other is the Northern Sea Route, which can be used by China and Russia. The Northwest Passage is an alternative route to the Panama Canal, and controlling it means that the US has a route that connects the country's two coasts, is safe from foreign interference - the canal is controlled by China, according to the new US administration - and through which goods and naval vessels can be transported in less time than through the Panama route.
The other major reason Trump has his eye on the island is the deposits of rare earths, and not only that, in Greenland but also on the seabed of the Nordic seas. In this case, Greenland would have another function: that of further expanding the United States into these seas and the Atlantic.
We are seeing these days the importance that Trump gives to the supply of rare earths in the negotiations in Ukraine, and in the mind of the head of the White House, Ukraine and Greenland have the same importance for his country's economy. The Atlantic island is said to contain forty-two million tons of the materials classified as critical by the US government, including cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium and nickel, while there are also large gas and oil deposits in the Arctic Ocean. Here, too, there is a race with China, which has been exploring the seabed for several years.
However, all this depends on the internal politics of the island under Danish sovereignty and the results of the upcoming elections. Currently, the government is formed by a coalition consisting of the Inuit Ataqatigiit Party and the Siumut Party, the former being left-wing and pro-independence and the latter leaning more towards social democratic issues. The Prime Minister is Múte Inequnaaluk Bourup Egede, leader of the Inuit Ataqatigiit Party, who responded to Trump's words by declaring that the island is not for sale. Faced with this unwanted attention, Parliament passed two laws: one restricting foreign and domestic funding for parties ahead of elections, another restricting the purchase of land on the island. Despite these measures and the lack of willingness of the population to join the United States, as revealed in a recent poll, the positions of the two ruling parties on the possibility of holding a referendum after the elections are not identical.
Siumut representatives spoke in favor of holding a referendum after the parliamentary elections, while the Inuit Araqatigiit were more reserved. This is an important difference, as it breaks unity on an important issue at such a sensitive time. Is the interference expected to continue? For a sure answer, one must wait for the results of the March 11 election, but to venture a prediction, one can say that a split on such an issue certainly favors external actors who want to interfere in local politics.
Thus, Trump could exploit this gap between the positions of the two major parties. The effects would also be felt in relations with Denmark and with Europe as a whole, as a new issue would aggravate relations between the two sides of the Atlantic. (Agenzia Fides, 8/3/2025)
