Government ministers from the Nordic countries will meet in Denmark on Wednesday to consider upgrading the status of Greenland and two other autonomous territories so they can participate on equal footing in the regional forum. The proposed change follows a diplomatic rupture triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to acquire control of Greenland.
Copenhagen and its European partners rejected the U.S. demand and opened trilateral discussions last month between Denmark, Greenland (Nuuk) and Washington to defuse the diplomatic tensions. The ministers’ meeting will centre on revising the Helsinki Treaty - the 1962 accord signed by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway - to guarantee full rights for the Danish-administered Greenland and the Faroe Islands, as well as the Finnish autonomous region of Aland.
For decades the autonomous territories have sought parity within the Nordic framework but were excluded from certain sessions, notably those dealing with security issues and related subjects such as the war in Ukraine. That exclusion prompted Greenland’s government to boycott the format in 2024.
Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, described the prospective treaty update as consequential, saying in a statement: "An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation."
Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said Nuuk will play an active role in creating a commission to rewrite the agreement and stressed the significance for the island’s standing: "The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognised as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation."
Public opinion on the island has long shown a majority of Greenland’s roughly 57,000 residents expressing a desire for eventual independence from Denmark. At the same time, many voices warn against rushing toward separation because of Greenland’s economic dependence on Copenhagen and the risk of increased exposure to the United States.
Reflecting those tensions, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said earlier this month that if Greenlanders were compelled to choose between the United States and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
The meeting in Denmark will thus address both constitutional recognition within a regional forum and the practical diplomatic fallout from recent international manoeuvring over the Arctic island. The outcome of the Helsinki Treaty review will determine whether Greenland and the other autonomous territories gain the formal rights that have long been sought and whether that change reduces political friction generated by external interest in the region.
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