Greenland and the Faroe Islands Are Urgently Calling for Reform of the Commonwealth
It is crucial to change the current construction between Greenland and Denmark if one wants to be stronger in the future. Otherwise, the frustrations will continue, says the new member of parliament.
The calendar is full, and a new everyday life at Christiansborg is about to fall into place. Last month, Naaja H. Nathanielsen replaced the long title of Minister for Industry, Raw Materials, Energy, the Justice Sector and Gender Equality with member of parliament.
This is happening at a time when Greenland has the world’s attention. According to the chairman of the Greenlandic government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the parliamentary elections in March were the most important in Greenland’s history.
Naaja H. Nathanielsen ran to change the current structure, where Greenland and the Faroe Islands each have two seats in the Folketing. Instead, she wants to strengthen Greenland’s independent voice—especially in foreign policy.
This requires changes to both the Constitution and the Self-Government Act. Today, it is the Danish government that conducts foreign policy on behalf of the entire realm.
“Almost all parties want independence in the long term, but recognize that the population is not there yet. If we want to stay in the kingdom, we must also ensure maximum influence within that framework. And there are clear limitations today,” she says.
Last Call
According to Nathanielsen, the solution is a constitutional commission with participation from both Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The current constitution makes it impossible to create real equality between the three parts of the realm, she believes.
When the constitution was last amended in 1953, Greenlanders were not given the opportunity to vote. At the same time, Greenland was transformed from a colony into a Danish county.
“It was presented as equality. But the question is whether we ever got there. I don’t think so. The constitution is outdated and does not reflect the democracy we want today.”
While the geopolitical situation has become more acute with US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that Greenland should be part of the USA, Greenland and Denmark have moved closer together. The chairman of the Greenlandic government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, made this clear during a press conference in January.
“If we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark and the EU,” said Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
But if Greenland and Denmark are to continue their cooperation, it is necessary to renew it, says Naaja H. Nathanielsen.
Some Might Think That Major Reform Changes Take the Focus Away from Unity?
“I think the opposite. It is absolutely crucial to do it now if you want to be stronger in the future, otherwise the frustrations will only grow. If you want to preserve the kingdom, you have to get out of the starting blocks and start reforming it. This is about to be the last call,” says Naaja H. Nathanielsen and continues:
“If this is kicked into a corner, I can be worried about what will happen over the next four years, because time and again we from Greenland experience being sidelined as spectators without the opportunity to really influence our reality.”
Subdivision in the Danish People’s Government
The critical voices were also felt in the Folketing when the chairman of the Foreign and Security Policy Committee in the Greenlandic Parliament, Pipaluk Lynge, strongly criticized that the Parliament members were not invited to a meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee in January, when the geopolitical crisis was at its peak.
There was only one item on the agenda for the meeting: the Kingdom’s relationship with the USA. Here, members of the committee receive confidential information about the geopolitical situation. Although the North Atlantic mandates are part of the committee, they cannot pass on information to their Greenlandic colleagues due to confidentiality obligations.
“There is a bias when as a member of the Folketing you can get more information about what is happening around Greenland than you can get as a politician in the Greenlandic Parliament,” says Naaja H. Nathanielsen, who supports the criticism.
“There is something wrong in the framework. Because when I listen to my political colleagues in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, they really want to involve and involve each other. So why is it that the framework says something different? We need to change that.”
The fact that Denmark handles foreign policy issues and makes foreign policy decisions also affects Greenland, even though the decisions are not about Greenland, continues Naaja H. Nathanielsen.
“We are not in the engine room, but we are also affected if Denmark chooses to join wars, as was done with Afghanistan and the like. We should be involved and taken seriously and not just be a satellite or subdivision of the Danish democratic government,” she says.
Need for Reconciliation
It is one thing to reform, another thing to reconcile.
According to Naaja H. Nathanielsen, there is also a need for reconciliation between Greenland and Denmark.
Therefore, one of the demands she has for acting Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is currently investigating whether she can form a new Danish government, is that the women from the IUD scandal, the legally fatherless, and those who have been adopted on dubious grounds be entitled to compensation.
“There is a need for reconciliation if we want each other. And if we should choose to go in different directions, we have lived a history together that has been both positive, but also contains many dark chapters.”
Back in 2014, the Greenlandic government initiated a reconciliation commission. The coalition agreement stated, among other things: “in order to create distance from the colonization of our country, it is important that a reconciliation process takes place.”
However, it was without Danish participation, as then-Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt did not believe that Denmark needed reconciliation.
Therefore, Naaja H. Nathanielsen believes that the initiative for a reconciliation commission should come from the Danish side.
“The Danish side must be willing to look itself and its own behavior in the eye and not refer to it as something that happened in the past and not something that is happening now. There have been recent studies that show that there is still discrimination against Greenlanders,” she says.
Source: KNR (in Danish)