Greenland-DK relations at low ebb
Relations between Greenland and Denmark went from being predominantly good to being predominantly bad when the new government took office last year, according to Greenland’s Home Rule Government Chairman Múte B. Egede told Politiken. He particularly criticised Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, whom he accused of standing in the way of good cooperation. Múte B. Egede mentions, among other things, the appointment of the current ambassador to South Africa, Tobias Elling Rehfeld, as the new Arctic ambassador. Lars Løkke Rasmussen has previously said that the Foreign Ministry does not appoint ambassadors according to ethnicity. However, Múte B. Egede maintains that the appointment is a provocation to Greenland.
“The procedure shows how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs views us and does not involve us, even though we are the Arctic country in the kingdom. The picture speaks for itself,” he says, referring to the fact that there is an understanding with Denmark that nothing about the Faroe Islands and Greenland should be decided outside of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. In addition, Múte B. Egede believes that Folketing member Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam’s speech in Greenlandic in Parliament earlier in May provoked a discussion that testifies that the relationship between Denmark and Greenland “is not at its peak right now”. The Greenland Home Rule Government chairman also criticised the fact that the Danish Government has not yet initiated an investigation into the thousands of Greenlandic women who, on a Danish initiative, had an IUD set up without their consent.
Múte B. Egede is convinced that the process would have gone faster if it had been about Danish conditions. He warns that it could have consequences for Denmark’s security policy desire to focus on the Arctic if Løkke Rasmussen in particular does not show more respect. Løkke Rasmussen told Politiken that he is sincerely dismayed for the criticism and that he looks forward to meeting Múte again and clarifying some misunderstandings. /ritzau/