Greenland Agreement Signed: Happy Ending in New York

Jens-Frederik Nielsen is standing in a conference room in the UN building, US President Donald Trump and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are sitting at the table next to him. The two have already highlighted the importance of the moment - now it is the turn of the head of government of Greenland. He says it with conviction: This is a “win-win-win” situation. And then the time has come: they sign the agreement that is supposed to finally solve all the problems between their countries. The Greenland question raised by the USA has been considered answered since Tuesday.

The schedule just got a little mixed up. Press and diplomats from the countries involved had to wait a while in the room prepared for the signing while the US President gave his speech to the UN General Assembly. This deal was just one of many topics, but Trump did not forget to emphasize his anticipation of working with the “wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland.” Immediately after the speech, he rushed to sign.

Shortly before the three main figures of the day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Mute B. Egede also appeared in the conference room. The importance of the agreement for the countries involved was also evident from the high density of top politicians.

In her short speech, Mette Frederiksen then spoke of a milestone in the long Danish-American relationship. The agreement is “bigger and better” than the previous one and one that could last forever. The Danish Prime Minister praised the USA's role as protector of the free world and expressed pride in Denmark's traditionally close ties as an ally. Disputes between allies only benefit their opponents, she alluded to the conflicts that Trump's repeatedly expressed claim to ownership of Greenland had triggered.

Greenland's Prime Minister Nielsen finally emphasized: "For Greenland, this is not just an agreement about us, but an agreement with us." The previous version from 1951 had to be updated in 2004 for Greenland to officially become a co-signatory. Nielsen emphasized that the new agreement now takes the old one into 2026.

This agreement had not been thought of at the beginning of the year. By then people in Europe had begun to seriously worry that the USA might pose a military threat to Greenland and Denmark. The Danish foreign minister and his then Greenlandic colleague Vivian Motzfeldt traveled together to Washington, and the diplomatic mission resulted in the establishment of a working group. Almost nothing was known to the outside world about their progress - until last Friday, when first the US President announced an agreement and then Greenland and Denmark confirmed the information.

Up to now it has only been possible to speculate as to what exactly distinguishes this agreement from the previous one. The 1951 agreement also granted the USA extensive rights to set up military bases on Greenland and to move freely there - as long as they did not restrict Denmark's sovereignty.

The new deal was made public shortly after the signing ceremony on Tuesday. First concrete findings according to the Danish broadcaster DR: The USA wants to set up two new military bases in Greenland. So they would have been able to do that under the current conditions. Greenland is also to become a location for the planned US Golden Dome defense system.

The USA currently only has one base on the strategically important island - the Pituffik Space Base. During the Cold War, they operated four radar stations there, as well as military airports and underground research facilities, a total of more than 30 military facilities.

An hour and a half after the signing, Mette Frederiksen declared on Tuesday evening at a press conference broadcast on DR that the new agreement was based on the one from 1951. It strengthens the common defense in the North Atlantic and is deeply anchored in NATO. Greenland's Prime Minister Nielsen also stuck to his assessment: "Overall, a fantastic agreement."