Pressemøde den 7. september 2026

Maskintransskriberet

Jens-Frederik Nielsen: Naalakkersuisut is very pleased to welcome the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to Greenland. Ursula welcome to Greenland. We are honored to have you.

The European Union continues to be not only an important partner for Greenland, but also a loyal and trusted friend. Through these challenging times, your support to us is unfailing. You have stood by us and continue to stand by us. We feel it and are deeply grateful. Thank you.

The last time you visited Greenland was back in 2024. You opened the first EU-office here in Nuuk. It marked a new milestone in the Greenland-EU partnership. Now more than two years later, we can say that the EU-office has been an important, effective, and valuable tool for enhancing and strengthening the cooperation between us.

Being present, living, and seeing our way of life, both the challenges and the opportunities, has made a big difference for our partnership. I would like to thank you and the good people at the EU-office for the excellent cooperation. The EU-office has been one of many milestones for the Greenland-EU cooperation. Today we are privileged to be able to look back on a partnership that has lasted for more than 40 years. It has been a partnership characterized by continued development and growth, gradually changing the needs of both Greenland and the European Union. It started out with a focus on fisheries and now also includes education and green growth areas such as raw materials, sustainable tourism, energy, biodiversity, and research.

Back in 2015 we signed a joined declaration on our overall partnership, providing an umbrella-framework for our relations, defining our financial cooperation and including areas of mutual interest for cooperation and dialogue, such as Arctic matters, natural resources, and environment. Looking back on the past 10 years the world has, however, changed drastically. We face new challenges that we cannot tackle alone. Luckily, there are also new opportunities. To tackle both challenges and opportunities requires expertise, investments, dialogue and increased collaboration. It calls for an even closer, stronger and strategic partnership.

I'm therefore happy to share that we will be signing, we have signed an updated joint declaration and the EU-Greenland cooperation today, making another significant milestone in our long-standing cooperation.

The declaration expands our cooperation goals to include several new sectors, spanning from infrastructure and connectivity to maritime management to civil preparedness and more. It creates an updated framework for important collaboration and more important, more frequent and robust dialogues. It also highlights the importance of putting words into action by emphasizing the need to further strengthen and common investment agenda.

I am therefore also very pleased that the joint declaration will be followed by a special investment package for Greenland from the EU. For a long time, we have been in dialogue on various projects that have the potential to contribute to the living conditions of the people of Greenland, creating economic growth and diversification for the benefits of both the European Union and Greenland.

One of the projects was announced just earlier today, the satellite cooperation with Tusass, creating increased internet access for our communities in North Greenland. As we move into the next chapter of an increased and strengthened partnership, we look forward to working together on implementing the joint declaration and the investment package together.

A cooperation-project that will also fit into the EU's next budget period, where the European Commission has proposed a doubling of the support for Greenland to almost half a billion euros.

Greenland needs the European Union and the European Union needs Greenland. This was one of the main messages I expressed to the European Parliament in my speech in Strasbourg last year. I firmly believe this to be true. We need each other. With this new joint declaration and investment package we will have an important set of tools to tackle challenges and seize opportunities together for the benefit of both of us.

Thank you once again for your strong support and friendship.

Ursula von der Leyen: Thank you very much, Prime Minister Nielsen, Prime Minister Frederiksen, dear Mette, dear Jens-Frederik. I also want to thank you for the excellent cooperation and the outstanding hospitality we have experienced over the last 48 hours. Indeed, as you said, I came here for the first time in 2024. Two years ago, and I remember that at that time the message I was given was very clear do not let this visit be symbolic and a one off, make it substantive and deliver real results.

And I'm happy to say today I'm back to deliver together with you - concrete results, results that followed two years of intensive work and close cooperation, and now we're ready to implement.

If we look at them – what happens today? Basically, we have three big topics. We signed, as you just witnessed, the joint declaration. We issued the EU-Greenland partnership package of 200 million euros for this year and next year. And we discussed the first deliverables of our partnership package, which are ready to go now, ready in the pipeline. Let me shed a light on all three. And I want to start with the joint declaration.

I think it reflects a clear choice expressed by Greenland to strengthen the ties with the European Union in line with your values, your freedom and your interests. But let me tell you, it also shows a very strong interest of Europe to having made a choice too, the choice to be more present and to be more engaged in Greenland and in the Arctic. And therefore, the declaration kind of deepens cooperation across the board. Just to name a few, it's about opportunities for young people, a better-connected country, prepare for crisis, as you said, Jens-Frederik, strengthen civil protection, fight climate change, as we could see it's progressing here too. We saw it firsthand yesterday.

The second spotlight I want to shed is on the partnership package. Indeed, it's 200 million euros of new investments for Greenland this year, next year and this partnership package focuses mainly on three domains or strategic priorities we call them the big seas, connectivity, clean energy, critical raw materials.

If you look at connectivity Greenland needs, like everybody, reliable connections with the country with the European Union and towards the world and this is exactly what we discussed today at Tusass it was impressive to be there and we signed also a project that will boost satellite capacities in the country. And what I really like about this project is the result will be felt as of tomorrow by communities in the northern part of Greenland that will have better access and faster access as of tomorrow in the internet.

And by October, so we need another month, remote communities in East Greenland also will have better and faster access to the internet. Thanks to the project we just inaugurated today.

My second point is on clean energy. Greenland has an untapped potential in hydropower. You're good at that already, but you're still can be better. So, our partnership package supports new hydropower plants in Greenland. The goal is to strengthen your energy security with homegrown energy supply, which gives you more independence, and also to develop strategic clean industries like, for example, renewable hydrogen, that you might be interested in.

The third point is, of course, on critical raw materials. Everybody knows that Greenland has vast resources, and we agreed that they should be used to create value, jobs, and growth here in the country. So, it's with that mindset that we're working on two big projects. The first is the Malmbjerg molybdenum Mining Project. This one could become one of Greenland's largest ventures and it could, if we get it right and done, generate up to 90 million euros a year for the country as added value. And we are also financing the preparations of Greenroc Amitsoq Graphite project, also a very important project in the field of the critical raw materials.

This was worth three examples but it's just the beginning. We also discussed that in our next budget. We have proposed to move to more than double EU-funding for Greenland until 2034 to 530 million euros in the next budget.

We want our partnership to be built for the long term and this symbolizes also this focus on the next budget to be a reliable partner. And this brings me perhaps to the most important point and that is people.

We will also work together to improve the quality of life. Take housing. We discussed that we can together with you renovate or build new homes. We will also support local businesses, especially in the tourism sector, for tourism that respects the environment and your community. So, what we call sustainable tourism. There's a big interest in here. We have to get it done in the right way and see us as a partner for these projects in the pipeline.

But the best investment possible is the one in Greenland's youth. And Greenland indeed is taking part in Erasmus Plus, for young Greenlanders to have the opportunity to travel, to study, to develop skills, come back here and build a bright future with their expertise that they won over time in Erasmus Plus. This is why we want to step up Greenland's participation in Erasmus Plus, and raise awareness among young Greenlanders that this opportunity exists for them.

My last point is about our broader shared region. The Arctic. The European Union stands in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland. We will continue to do so and we want to be very clear and repeat again here that Greenland's future is for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide, no one else.

Territorial integrity, sovereignty, the inviolability of borders, these are fundamental principles of international law. And we know that the Arctic has become one of the places where the tectonic-plates of geopolitics collide. So, we have a direct stake in what happens here. That is why we are preparing a new EU-Arctic Strategy to be presented this autumn.

It will set out our vision for the Arctic and for a stronger partnership with Europe's northern neighborhood. Dear Jens-Frederik, dear Mette, Greenland is much more than a partner for Europe. You are a trusted friend, you're a strategic ally and a valued member of our wider European family. We share a future together and it all starts today. Qujanaq! Thank you.

Mette Frederiksen: Tak Jens-Frederik. And first of all, thank you for hosting this visit. It is always a big pleasure for me to be in Greenland, a beautiful country in the Arctic with a strong and proud people whom I admire so much.

To you, dear President, dear Ursula, thank you for being here and thank you for also today being such a strong supporter for Greenland, for the Kingdom of Denmark and for our shared European values. Your voice has been very clear the last couple of years. We needed that and we need it now, so thank you for that. And as you both have said, I mean, the European Union and Greenland have been partners now for about 40 years. But today, this partnership is taking to the next level.

Now, we will collectively deliver results for people with the signing of a joint declaration, and even more important, with concrete projects that would lead to real benefits for the people of Greenland. And that is what our cooperation is about. Real benefits for real people in Greenland. You have already been talking about connectivity, investments in raw materials, improving energy resilience and more to come. And it's very clear also when we were being around yesterday that Greenland is in a very unique place on earth. It is a land of harsh weather and huge distance but also with a great potential and a very strong willpower. And all of us is aware that the focus on the Arctic increases and Europe will of course not be a bystander. And therefore, we need to continue to strengthen our common security as we do in Greenland where 10 allies in the coming days will participate in the exercise Arctic Shield on land, at sea and in the air.

And when I'm mentioning it, I also want to underline the importance of our cooperation on security and I would like to thank all allies, who are present in Greenland now and also in coming weeks, months and years.

At the same time, we need to invest more directly into Greenland as we do now in new joint projects, improving internet access through satellite solutions with funding from Greenland, of course, Denmark, of course, but now also the European Union. So working together makes great sense. And as Jens-Frederik already has said Greenland needs Europe, but Europe needs Greenland as well. So, let's get to work. And thank you, Ursula, also for, I mean, you were only here two years ago, and you are right. We said at that time, please don't make it just a symbol. And now you are back, and you are delivering. So, thank you so much.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen: Thank you. Thank you, Mette. We'll take a couple of questions first.

Journalist: The government of Greenland has suggested in the proposal for the new Arctic Strategy in the EU to lift the general ban on sealskin products. We also see that one of the American oil companies up here is talking about sealskin diplomacy. How does the future look for sealskin products from Greenland in the EU?

Ursula von der Leyen: Look, the Arctic Strategy that you mentioned is the broader approach and it's not connected to bilateral issues that we have to clarify, but the broader approach. Basically, is the attitude that the Arctic is no longer a distant north, but we want to describe the Arctic Strategy with our northern neighborhood, so close to us, with a lot of influence from us to the northern neighborhood, but also vice versa.

The whereabouts of the northern neighborhood will have an enormous impact also of the European Union. And Greenland is at the core of it. I mentioned some of the topics that will play a big role in the Arctic Strategy, for example, the topic of connectivity, certainly the topic of security with closer cooperation, but at the center of it, for sure, people and prosperity. These are the overarching topics of the Arctic Strategy.

Journalist: How will this agreement benefit Greenlanders? And can you give an example?

Ursula von der Leyen: I think the best example is today, Tusass, we were there in satellites and we boosted the satellite capacity. That's technical, but the effect for people is as of tomorrow, northern remote communities of Greenland will have faster and better access to internet. And you know how much this is important for them.

The same goes in this project for the eastern communities in the fall. As of October, they will also have the experience. Thanks to the project, that we started today, or that we signed today to have faster and better access to the internet.

But of course, in general, it's about good jobs. We also agreed that we want to work closely together on housing, for example, the remodeling and renovating houses, the sustainable tourism we have spoken about, and then the big topics like critical raw materials we have just described in our statement important is; more prosperity, better jobs, better access, better connection to the rest of the people.

Journalist: It's been a dramatic year and a half for Greenland. Could you put a few more words to the timing of this Greenland and EU moving closer together?

Ursula von der Leyen: Yeah, as we have repeated a few times, I was here for the first time me personally in 2024. And I remember at the Hans Egedes House, we signed the first MOU, which was a declaration. What we have done then is an intensively worked out this whole range of projects. I opened the first office of the European Union, so for the first time the European Union was here or is here 24/7, always accessible and working very closely with the community.

And it took us these two years to develop all these different projects, that we have been speaking about. Now we're ready to implement them. So, this is determining the time frame. Of course, the geopolitical developments play a role in the topics and the width and depth of the topics that we are handling.

But I really want to thank again for the excellent cooperation because without Greenland's input it would not have been possible to stand here today and to say we can start this project, we have another project in the pipeline, and I hope in two years, the latest, I'll be back and I can say look that happened with this project and here we were successful with another one.

So, the timing is also very much dependent on the hard work the teams are doing on the ground to have it effective.

Journalist: A question for all three leaders. Are you concerned at all about how US President Donald Trump may react to these announcements and agreements and if that could in turn then once again raise tensions over Greenland? And what message do you think he should take from them? And then a second, more general, European political question. Given the election victory of the AfD in Saxony Anhalt yesterday and the high poll numbers for Eurosceptic parties in many European countries, is it time for the EU to change course politically? That's a question particularly for Commission President von der Leyen, but I'd welcome thoughts of the other leaders as well.

Mette Frederiksen: Well, as you know, the Kingdom of Denmark is a sovereign state, and we are a member of the European Union. And we are a member of NATO. We have been under pressure, and it has been very clear and we are very thankful for the great support we have received from our European partners but by the way also globally.

And I think it is, there are two really important milestones that we have received or been able to conclude on and that is first of all now a stronger partnership between Greenland and the European Union. I mean, Naalakkersuisut has been working on this for quite a long time. And the most important thing about this is also the concrete results that we will be able to show people that politics can make a difference.

We know that we work more slow than others, but in people's concrete life there will now be a positive change. And then on security, I mean, yesterday we were visiting one of our vessels, one of our military vessels, and we saw with our own eyes how many allies that are now training, doing exercises in the Arctic region, also surrounding Greenland. It is extremely important. So, we would like to work closer together with the US on security and defense, but we, of course, would also like to work even closer together with our European allies, and that is exactly what we're doing in the Arctic region now.

Ursula von der Leyen: Basically, I can only reflect that Greenland stood firm and stands firm under enormous pressure and united with you, and Europe is firm and united with you too. This is the basic message.

And in general, there is, as you know, a golden rule in the Commission never to comment national elections and thus also not regional elections.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen: Thank you, and I think that was it for today's press conference. Thank you all for being here.