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Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam started the revolution, at least a little bit. When the young Greenlandic MEP gave a speech to the Danish parliament in Copenhagen in May, she did so, against all conventions, in the language of her home country: Greenlandic. Some parliamentarians were angry and described their behavior as disrespectful, provocative and childish – after all, Danish is spoken in the Danish parliament! But Høegh-Dam’s concern was not that her colleagues in Parliament understood what she was saying, but what she ultimately wanted to express.

“It is a relic of the colonial era that we only speak Danish in the room,” the Siumut MP later said. “If Denmark really were a kingdom, then we could also accommodate each other’s language.”

Høegh-Dam holds one of four mandates in the Danish Parliament reserved for representatives of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, both of which are part of the Kingdom of Denmark. She makes no secret of the fact that she does not receive equal treatment in this community. The 26-year-old says what many Greenlanders have been complaining about for decades: the Danish side has no respect and understanding for their interests, culture and identity. In the final debate of the Danish parliamentary year, Høegh-Dam followed up and asked why Greenland hardly played a role in the hours-long debate.

No colony for 70 years

It is exactly 70 years ago that Denmark adopted its constitution in 1953, which is still in force today. At the same time, Greenland’s colonial status ended. The largest island in the world was transformed from a colony without rights into an equal part of Denmark and its inhabitants became Danish citizens. And the Danes wanted to modernize Greenland according to their ideas.

But the process was rushed without the Greenlanders being asked for their opinion, says researcher Ulrik Pram Gad of the Danish Institute for International Studies. Many of them will have felt caught off guard and viewed formal decolonization as the beginning of actual colonization.

Own government but dependent on Denmark

Since then, Greenland has been given extensive autonomy with its own government and parliament. To this day, however, the Danish government still decides on foreign and security issues. Financially, the island with its nearly 57,000 inhabitants is still heavily dependent on Copenhagen. In return, Denmark gives control in the Arctic. In Danish this model is called «rigsfællesskab», kingdom community.

There are regular creaks in this community, but this year there is a huge rumble. Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is particularly outrageous, for example, electing an Arctic ambassador without consulting Greenland. A lack of understanding also caused a delay in starting research on pregnancy-restricting IUDs used by Greenlandic women and girls in the 1960s.

It bubbles up

“At the moment there is not a good climate for cooperation,” Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B. Egede stated a few days ago in the Danish newspaper Politiken. The debate triggered by Høegh-Dam’s speech shows that the relationship between Denmark and Greenland is currently “not at its peak”.

The issue of Greenlandic independence also resonates in the debate on the Danish-Greenlandic relationship. “I work every day to move closer to the goal of independence,” Egede told “Politics”.

Greenland, once an independent state? For many Greenlanders this is a long cherished wish. And at the end of April, the island took a step so that this does not have to remain with wish forever: after several years of preparatory work, a committee presented a draft for a possible first Greenlandic constitution. Now it is the turn of the parliament in the Greenlandic capital Nuuk to consider how to proceed with the proposal. There are no concrete plans yet and many questions remain unanswered.

Formally ready for independence

“Greenland would now be formally ready for independence,” says Greenland expert Pram Gad of the draft. In practice, however, there is still a long way to go. “The most important thing is that Greenland currently does not have the resources to actually become independent,” he says. The island alone would have to miss some four billion Danish kroner (almost 540 million euros), which it currently receives in annual block grants from Copenhagen.

The question is whether Greenland will ever be able to stand on its own two feet financially. However, in addition to the existing status quo of the imperial community and complete decoupling from Denmark, Pram Gad sees a third possibility, a kind of middle ground: an agreement on free association. To date, only five Pacific island nations have entered into such a model, either with the United States or New Zealand. They are all self-reliant, but have retained a connection to their former colonial power. Greenland could also negotiate such an agreement with Denmark – or with other countries.

“My most likely scenario would be that within five to ten years Greenland has convinced Denmark to enter into such a free association agreement,” says Pram Gad. Denmark could contribute some of the finances, and the US could also be on board for defense. In five to ten years, the researcher says, Greenland could be independent – with such a free association agreement immediately afterwards. (t-online, dpa)