Being part of the EU would ensure Greenland has “protection,” he added. “In a common society, you are secured economically and politically.”
Trump has said it is an “absolute necessity” for the U.S. to gain control of Greenland and has refused to rule out using military force to acquire the island. His increasingly aggressive overtures have sparked crisis talks in Copenhagen and other European capitals, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen dashing between Berlin, Brussels and Paris this week to shore up support.
Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory, voted in a referendum to leave the European Communities, a precursor to the EU, in 1982 and formally left the bloc in 1985 — though most of its roughly 60,000 citizens are Danish and therefore still EU citizens.
“Clearly the situation has changed dramatically since ’85. We have a completely different geopolitical situation right now,” Løkkegaard, who hails from the Renew group in the European Parliament, told POLITICO from Greenland, where he is visiting as part of a delegation from the centrist group.
Greenland has a strong independence movement, with Prime Minister Múte Egede calling for the island to separate from Denmark. “We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders,” he told reporters earlier this month.
Løkkegaard argued Greenland is a natural candidate for EU membership, with a strong democracy and welfare system. “Many of the values that the EU member states and the EU population stand for are totally in line with the values of Greenland,” he said.
An unintended benefit of Trump’s saber-rattling was that Greenland could “reopen the discussion [as to] whether they consider closer relations with Europe,” including “a new understanding on a common future,” Løkkegaard said.
“If you want political change, this just might be the kick that is necessary for the Greenlanders to have a fresh look at what happens in Europe,” he added.
