Newsman: Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede called for an early election on March 11, amid geopolitical tensions caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire the Arctic island. Múte Egede’s announcement comes after parliament passed a law to ban foreign or anonymous donations over concerns of external influence in any election campaign.
“It’s time for an election to the Inatsisartut [Greenlandic Parliament]. If the Inatsisartut approves my proposal, this will happen on March 11th,” Egede wrote Tuesday in a post on Facebook.
“We are in a serious time. A time we have never experienced in our country. The time is not for internal division but for cooperation and unity for our country. I am once again more than ready to work for you and to lead our country,” he added.
Greenland, the world’s largest island with a population of around 60,000, was a Danish colony until it became self-ruling with its own parliament in 1979. With a total area of 836,000 square miles, Greenland is over one-fifth the size of the United States, according to the CIA World Factbook. It remains a territory of Denmark, with Copenhagen exercising control over its foreign and defense policy.
Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in taking control of the strategically located and resource-rich island, calling an American acquisition of Greenland an “absolute necessity” and refusing to rule out using military force to take it, sending shock waves across Europe.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Egede have insisted that Greenland is not for sale. Egede has repeatedly said Greenlanders “don’t want to be Americans,” which appeared to be borne out by numbers in a recent poll.
Greenland’s parliament passed a bill Tuesday that bans political parties from receiving contributions “from foreign or anonymous contributors” after President Donald Trump expressed his wish that the United States take over the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to Denmark.
The bill is aimed at protecting “Greenland’s political integrity” and will take effect immediately, according to a translation of a parliamentary document in Danish outlining the measure. The new measure also prohibits any single party from receiving domestic private contributions that exceed 200,000 Danish kroner (about $27,700) in total, or 20,000 kroner (about $2,770) from a single contributor.
The bill “must be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over and controlling Greenland,” the document said.
Before taking office for his second term on Jan. 20, Trump said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of Greenland, calling it vital to U.S. national security. His oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland last month and told citizens: “We’re going to treat you well.”
