Greenland and the European Union

In 2010, Greenland's exports to the EU amounted to €331 million (a 92.7% share of Greenland's total exports) and Greenland's imports from the EU were valued at €614 million (68.9% of all Greenland's imports). Exports to the EU were mainly food and live animals (89%). Imports from the EU included mineral fuels, lubricants (and related goods), machinery and transport equipment (together 47%). The EU is Greenland's main trading partner. However, Greenland ranks as the EU's 103rd largest trading partner.[http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/january/tradoc_147287.pdf EU BILATERAL TRADE AND TRADE WITH THE WORLD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405232306/http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/january/tradoc_147287.pdf |date=5 April 2017 }} (PDF), European Commission

In 2009 the EU Ban on Seal Products put in place an import ban on seal fur on grounds on animal cruelty, but made exemptions for Inuit communities in Greenland and Canada in order to protect indigenous way of life. The ban only allows small-scale hunts for population control and local circulation – produce is not allowed to enter the EU. The ban angered those communities in the Arctic Circle who depend on sales from large scale seal hunting.[http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/45592-arctic-communities-angered-by-eu-seal-product-ban.html Arctic communities angered by EU seal product ban] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119211257/http://cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/45592-arctic-communities-angered-by-eu-seal-product-ban.html |date=19 January 2011 }} Copenhagen Post 2009[https://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/8490323 EU takes aim at Canada, bans seal products], Guardian 2009 {{Dead link|date=August 2019}} Exports of seal pelts in Greenland have dropped 90% in a few years - from 60 million DKK to DKK 6 million a year since 2006.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

File:Greenlandic and Faroese Permanent Representation to the EU.jpg]]

Greenland is one of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) of the EU due to its political status in Kingdom of Denmark. As a result, Greenland has some integration with the EU's internal market via association agreements. It is also within the EU's common external tariff but they may charge customs in a non-discriminatory manner. Greenlandic nationals have EU citizenship.{{refn|This status is stipulated in Articles {{CELEX|id=12016M009|format=HTML|text=9 TEU}} and {{CELEX|id=12008E020|format=HTML|text=20 TFEU}}, which state that EU citizenship is granted to nationals of EU member states, including Denmark, regardless of the region they reside in. The special arrangements for Greenland are detailed in Protocol No. 34.{{CELEX|id=12012E/PRO/34|format=HTML|text=Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union {{!}} Protocol (No 34) on special arrangements for Greenland}}}} OCT nationals can be granted the right to vote for and participate in the election of the European Parliament, subject to the conditions defined by the related member states in compliance with Community law.Green paper on future relations between EU and overseas countries/territories, 3. 1. 1. http://ec.europa.eu/development/icenter/repository/1_EN_ACT_part1_v8.pdf

Up to 2006, all EU funds to Greenland (then €42.8 million per year) went via the EU–Greenland fishing agreement. Between 2007 and 2013, the EU provided €25 million per year outside of fishing.[http://www.eeas.europa.eu/greenland/index_en.htm EU Relations with Greenland], EEAS It has been given aid since it pulled out of the EU (see below) in 1985 to roughly the same amount it was previously receiving in EU structural funds (which it lost the right to receive due to its secession). This amounted to about 7% of Greenland's budget. The amount paid via the fishing agreement was in return for EU vessels fishing in Greenland's waters and to help restructure Greenland's fishing fleet. However, this deal was struck down by the European Court of Auditors, who held that the amount the EU was paying was too high for the quantity of fish caught.[https://fpc.org.uk/a-new-deal-for-greenland-and-the-eu/ A new deal for Greenland and the EU?], EFC

File:Emmanuel Macron speaking in Greenland.png at a Nuuk press conference in 2025]]

Greenland has joined the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union. It was founded on 17 November 2000, during the conference of prime ministers of overseas countries and territories in Brussels, Belgium. It includes almost all special member state territories of European Union whose purpose is to improve economic development in overseas countries and territories and cooperation with the European Union. It currently has 13 members. On 25 June 2008, a Cooperation Treaty between the EU and OCTA was signed in Brussels.{{cite book|title=Future relations between the EU and the Overseas Countries and Territories|date=25 May 2008|publisher=Commission of the European Commities|location=Brussels|pages=17|url=http://www.octassociation.org/IMG/pdf/green_paper_2008.pdf|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=26 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126033226/http://www.octassociation.org/IMG/pdf/green_paper_2008.pdf|url-status=dead}}

In 2012, Greenland and Prime Minister of Greenland, Kuupik Kleist, held the chairmanship of the organisation.

{{See also|Potential enlargement of the European Union#Greenland}}

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Greenland is eligible for EU funding. Between 2007 and 2013, the EU allocated approximately €190 million, and between 2014 and 2020, €217.8 million are planned for sustainable development, with focus on education.{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1207_en.htm|title=European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Further EU support for sustainable development of Greenland|website=europa.eu|access-date=10 April 2018}} In 2015, a joint declaration about closer relations between EU and Greenland was signed by Denmark, Greenland and the EU.{{Cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/signed-joint-declaration-eu-greenland-denmark_en.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419143532/https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/signed-joint-declaration-eu-greenland-denmark_en.pdf |url-status=dead }}

In March 2015, the President of the EU Commission, the Prime Minister of Denmark and the Greenland Premier signed 'an umbrella' framework document outlining EU-Greenland relations, a "Joint Declaration on relations between the European Union, on the one hand, and the Government of Greenland and the Government of Denmark, on the other". By this document, the EU confirms its long lasting links with Greenland and reiterates the geostrategic importance of Greenland for the EU.{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en|title=Greenland - European Commission|website=ec.europa.eu|access-date=10 April 2018}}

The Brexit debate has reignited talk about the EU in Greenland, and there have been calls for the island to rejoin the Union.{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.eu/article/greenland-exit-warning-to-britain-brexit-eu-referendum-europe-vote-news-denmark/|title=Greenland's exit warning to Britain|date=22 June 2016|website=politico.eu|access-date=10 April 2018}} In 2024 an opinion poll found that 60 percent of Greenland's population would vote in favour of re-joining the EU, an increase from 2021 where only 40 percent were in favour.{{Cite web|url=https://knr.gl/da/nyheder/flertal-vil-have-groenland-tilbage-i-eu|title=Opsigtsvækkende resultat: Flertal vil have Grønland tilbage i EU|trans-title=Startling result: Majority wants Greenland back in the EU|language=da|publisher=Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation|author=Mads Malik Fuglsang Holm|date=13 December 2024|access-date=16 December 2024}}

Greenland originally joined the then-European Communities with Denmark in 1973. At that time Greenland had no autonomy from Denmark, which it gained in 1979. Greenland achieved some special treatment such as restrictions on business for non-residents and fisheries.[https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=72088 Lov om Danmarks tiltrædelse af De europæiske Fællesskaber Bilag 1 til loven: Akt vedrørende tiltrædelsesvilkårene og tilpasningerne af traktaterne Protokoller til Tiltrædelsesakten Protokol nr. 4 om Grønland] (Danish) Greenland got the right to one European Parliament member in the parliament election 1979.

Greenland left in 1985, following a referendum in 1982 with 53% voting for withdrawal after a dispute over fishing rights.{{cite web | author=European Commission | title=1985 | date=10 November 2005 | work=The History of the European Union | url=http://europa.eu/abc/history/1985/index_en.htm | access-date=18 January 2006 | archive-date=14 June 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614175217/http://europa.eu/abc/history/1985/index_en.htm | url-status=dead }} The Greenland Treaty formalised their exit.

There has been some speculation as to whether Greenland might consider rejoining the European Union, although this seems highly unlikely to occur any time soon. On 4 January 2007, the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten quoted the former Danish minister for Greenland, Tom Høyem, as saying "I would not be surprised if Greenland again becomes a member of the EU ... The EU needs the Arctic window and Greenland cannot alone manage the gigantic Arctic possibilities".{{cite news|title=Greenland could re-join the EU |publisher=EUobserver Review |date=5 January 2007 |url=http://euobserver.com/844/23194?rss_rk=1 |access-date=25 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120191436/http://euobserver.com/844/23194?rss_rk=1 |archive-date=20 January 2008 }} The debate was reignited{{cite web|url=http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article73961.ece?lang=EN|title=Sermitsiaq.AG|website=Sermitsiaq.AG|access-date=10 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209012619/http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article73961.ece?lang=EN|archive-date=9 February 2009|url-status=dead}} during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis. The EU Common Fisheries Policy is an important reason why Greenland, Norway and Iceland stay outside the EU. There was hope that the Icelandic negotiations on EU membership 2011–2013 could create an exception to the policy but the negotiations never got that far. "Gigantic Arctic possibilities" refers to natural resources such as mining.

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• Denmark and the European Union
• Foreign relations of Greenland
• Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA)
• Greenland Representation to the European Union
• Proposals for the United States to purchase Greenland
• European Union
• Arctic policy of the European Union
• Special member state territories and the European Union (OCT)
• Enlargement of the European Union
• Greenland (European Parliament constituency)
• Withdrawal of Greenland from the European Communities
• 1982 Greenlandic European Communities membership referendum
• Accession of Iceland to the European Union
• Norway–European Union relations

• Christian Rebhan. 2016. North Atlantic Euroscepticism: the rejection of EU membership in the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Faroe University Press.
• Ulrik Pram Gad. 2016. [https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/N/bo26482608.html National Identity Politics and Postcolonial Sovereignty Games: Greenland, Denmark, and the European Union]. Museum Tusculanum Press.

{{reflist}}

• [https://naalakkersuisut.gl/en/Naalakkersuisut/Greenland-Representation-to-the-EU/European-Union-and-Greenland European Union and Greenland] at Department of Foreign Affairs of Greenland
• [https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/countries/greenland_en Greenland entry] at European Commission
• {{CELEX|id=12012E/PRO/34|format=HTML|text=Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union {{!}} Protocol (No 34) on special arrangements for Greenland}}
• [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/637922/EPRS_BRI(2019)637922_EN.pdf EU cooperation with Greenland] at European Parliamentary Research Service

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Category:Politics of Greenland

Category:Foreign relations of Greenland

Category:Politics of the European Union

Category:Third-country relations of the European Union