Greenland’s parliament has approved a new security and defense agreement with the United States, according to the news agency Ritzau. In Tuesday’s vote, 16 lawmakers supported the deal and seven abstained; none voted against it.
The agreement was signed in September in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, by US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. It still requires approval from Denmark’s parliament, which is scheduled to vote on November 19. The agreement can take effect once the United States has been informed through diplomatic channels of the results of both votes.
The deal updates and supplements a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States dating from 1951. It allows the US to modernize the Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland, its only current military base on the island, and expand its activities there. The agreement also permits the US to establish two additional defense sites initially.
Denmark and Greenland would give US forces broad freedom of movement on and around the island. The deal would also prevent countries outside NATO from building military facilities in Greenland without approval from all three parties. It places limits on investment influence from countries, and investors from countries, that are not NATO members or partners or members of the European Union.
The agreement comes amid Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland, which he has justified on security grounds. The deal does not change the island’s sovereignty, according to the report, and is intended to limit Chinese and Russian influence in the region.
Sources: Handelsblatt.