Nordic region seeks deeper ties with Greenland after Trump threats

COPENHAGEN - Nordic government ministers will meet in Denmark on Feb 18 to discuss elevating Greenland and two other autonomous territories to equal status in a regional forum, boosting cooperation after US President Donald Trump’s push to control the Arctic island.

Denmark and its European allies have rejected Mr Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country

must hand Greenland to the United States,

launching talks in January between Copenhagen, Nuuk and Washington to resolve the diplomatic stand-off.

Feb 18’s meeting will focus on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, to give full rights to the Danish-ruled territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, as well as Finland’s Aland.

The autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic forum, but were kept out of meetings focusing on security and related matters such as the war in Ukraine, leading Greenland’s government in 2024 to boycott the format.

“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic cooperation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Mr Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.

Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement. “The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognised as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” she said.

While opinion polls have indicated that a majority of the island’s 57,000 people hope to one day gain independence from Denmark, many warn against rushing it due to economic reliance on Copenhagen and becoming overly exposed to the United States.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, earlier in February, said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark. REUTERS