‘I would feel safer to stay with Denmark’: The Greenland crisis has brought the territory closer to Copenhagen
On the streets of Nuuk, talk of independence has been tempered by Trump’s ongoing threats.
The sun rises at about 10.45 in Nuuk during this time of year. What that really means is that it gets light at 11.30. Since most Greenlanders wake early, this gives them plenty of pre-dawn time to digest the latest biliousness out of Washington. For a people largely defined (at least by the rest of the world) by their lives spent in remote and climactically unforgiving terrain, the glare appears uncomfortable. “There has been anxiety and I’ve had some difficult talks with my partner about what we would do if there is a possible invasion by the US,” says student Hanna-Louisa Petersen, visibly distressed. “But I have been trying to live my life normally.”
Like her compatriots, Petersen’s stoicism is perhaps partly born from that gruelling weather. But this attitude has defined the Greenlandic response to the escalating threats made against their sovereignty by Donald Trump. In this endeavour, they have been led by a tiny government (a 10-member cabinet, behind which sits a 31-member parliament) trying to negotiate with and assuage the ire of the world’s foremost economic and military power. The skill with which they have done this has helped to galvanise national pride. On Tuesday, Greenland’s cool-headed foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, returned to Nuuk airport to a heroine’s welcome. Earlier in the day, the 34-year-old prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, had given an uncharacteristically grave press conference, during which he said that while a military attack by the US remained unlikely, “it cannot be ruled out”. Mr Nielsen went on to remark that since Greenland is a constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark, it is therefore a member of Nato and any attack on the territory would have “consequences for the whole world”.
It is not just in a military sense that Greenland is re-examining its Danish connection. While the recent crisis has brought Greenlanders together with a common purpose and increased calls for independence from Copenhagen in some quarters, there was also a sense that in some ways the crisis has brought the former colonial power and colony closer together. “External pressure forces you to look at your domestic relationship and deal with the things in that relationship,” says Christian Keldsen, director of the Greenland Business Association, in his Nuuk office. “I think that is definitely what we’re seeing at the moment.”
Danish subsidies make up one-third of Greenland’s GDP and Copenhagen administers the country’s judicial system (the Danish Supreme Court remains its highest court of appeal) as well as the territory’s foreign, defence and monetary affairs, while ensuring its people enjoy a European-style welfare state. Still, while gripes over its influence have continued to build – even after the 2009 Self-Government Act granted Greenland near full control over its domestic affairs – the relatively benign nature of Danish rule has been thrown into sharper relief over the past few weeks.
A poll conducted by Verian Group in 2025 found that 56 per cent of Greenlanders would vote for full independence from Denmark were a “referendum to be held today”, but on the ground in Nuuk, many of those who Monocle spoke to seemed to favour a pause on such aspirations. “In my opinion, the independence talk should wait a little,” says Petersen. “I would feel safer to stay with Denmark.” Others, however, such as retiree Tungutaq Larsen, were unequivocal about what lies ahead for Greenland: “In the future, when we are independent, we will have the ability to forge our own way.”
Alexis Self is Monocle’s foreign editor, who is reporting all week from Greenland. Listen to Tuesday’s ‘The Monocle Daily’ broadcast, live from Nuuk.
