Brussels – Critical raw materials, that’s at least one of the reasons why incoming U.S. President Donald Trump has cast his eyes on Greenland, thinking he can annex it to his country.
Fundamental raw materials, infrastructure, cooperation, skills development, and research: the five areas on which is based the economic relationship between the European Union and Greenland, the self-governing island of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Special Territory of the European Union, of which it is not a part, entered the expansionist aims of the incoming president.
Signed on November 30, 2023, the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and the Government of Greenland concerns a strategic partenership for the development of sustainable value chains for raw materials. “Twenty-five of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the Commission as strategically important for European industry and the green transition are located in Greenland,” Brussels specified at the time. In 2023, a report by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) identified 6 million tons of known natural resources of graphite, 36.1 million tons of rare earths on the island, 235 thousand tons of lithium and 106 thousand tons of copper, in addition to rare earth metals, niobium, platinum group metals, molybdenum, tantalum, and titanium.
There are five areas of cooperation between the two sides. Economic and industrial integration of value chains related to critical and other raw materials; cooperation aimed at harnessing high international environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards; building the infrastructure needed to develop value chains for raw materials; capacity building and skills development along raw material value chains; and cooperation on research and innovation and knowledge and technology sharing related to sustainable exploration, extraction, processing, and refining of raw materials.
A few months after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on March 15, 2024, the chairwoman of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, inaugurated in the capital Nuuk the opening of the EU office that aims to facilitate collaboration between the EU and local government, private sector, and civil society and promote public and private EU investment in the island. With the prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, and in the presence of the Danish premier, Mette Frederiksen, von der Leyen also signed two cooperation agreements totalling nearly €94 million as part of Global Gateway, the EU’s investment strategy for the world: the €71.25 million education program, with the aim of “equipping the Greenlandic workforce with the skills needed for strategic economic sectors,” and the €22.5 million green growth program, with the aim of investing “in essential energy and raw materials value chains.”
€94 million was part of the €225 million EU package that Greenland benefits from for 2021–2027 to support sustainable development, education, and green growth.
“Our new office in Nuuk marks the beginning of a new era in the EU-Greenland partnership, with Europe’s concrete presence in Greenland and the wider Arctic region. With our two new agreements, we will invest in clean energy, essential raw materials, and expertise in Greenland. New jobs in Greenland, better security of supply for Europe; we can both benefit from increased cooperation in these areas,” von der Leyen said at the time.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
