The Prime Minister of Greenland, Mute Egede, expressed in his New Year’s speech a desire for independence from its former colonial power, Denmark, and to seek to strengthen its cooperation with other countries.

“It’s time to take a step and shape our future, both in terms of who we want to work closely with and who we want our trading partners to be,” he said.

It must be recalled that Donald Trump has expressed a desire to “acquire and control” Greenland.

How the movement for independence from Denmark has evolved over the years

The movement for independence of Greenland has been gaining momentum in recent years, and this is partly due to revelations about the management of Greenland’s affairs by the Danish authorities in the 20th century. Among them is the case of the forced imposition of birth control in the 1960s.

Greenland was a colony of Denmark until 1953. It is now a self-governing territory of Denmark and in 2009 won the right to seek independence in a referendum. In 2023, the Greenland government presented a draft of its first constitution.

“History and the current situation have shown that our cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark has not succeeded in creating conditions of equality,” said Mute Egede.

“It is time for our country to take the next step. Like other countries in the world, we must work to remove the obstacles to cooperation – which can be described as the shackles of colonialism – and move forward,” he said, adding that it was up to the people of Greenland to decide on independence, without specifying when the vote would be held.

Effects on people’s living standards feared by opponents of independence

While the majority of Greenland’s 57,000 people support independence, there are disagreements over timing and the consequences for living standards.

Greenland’s government has twice rejected Trump’s offers to buy the island, in 2019 and last year. “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we will never be sold.”

During his speech, the prime minister did not mention Trump or the United States.

Despite its wealth of minerals, oil and gas, Greenland’s economy is fragile and dependent on fishing and annual grants from Denmark.

Parliamentary elections will be held before April 6.