Former IA chairman and former ICC chairman, Aqqaluk Lynge, is deeply concerned about the future of Greenland. He fears that the current division between Greenland and Denmark will encourage the US to make good on its threats and take over the country:
- The latest statement from the self-government and party leaders, which almost portrays us as an independent foreign policy actor without the involvement of the Commonwealth, is merely confirming the Americans' worst hunch: The emergence of a power vacuum in the Arctic.
- And it's a quite dangerous path to take, is the bleak assessment of the current situation from Aqqaluk Lynge.
He refers to the joint statement the five party leaders in Inatsisartut issued on Friday evening on the Naalakkersuisut website. The statement repeats the mantra that we do not want to be Americans and not Danes. It can hardly be interpreted differently than that Greenland wants its own state, Aqqaluk Lynge assesses:
- Perhaps the parties' joint statement has a domestic political aim, but it functions as foreign policy fuel on the fire, he says.
Warned about the situation over two years ago
Sermitsiaq has asked the former politician about the current crisis because a little over two years ago he wrote a sensational column in which he warned Greenlandic politicians against seeking further independence, precisely for fear that Greenland would be swallowed up by a larger power.
The geopolitical situation is far too tense, Aqqaluk Lynge said in September 2023.
Now the US has taken steps to implement the takeover, he believes, and therefore Greenland should stand unequivocally with Denmark:
- We are in this situation where the step is being taken.
- It is quite necessary to tell the rest of the world that we are not in a constitutional crisis. That Greenland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands have a commonwealth where things are discussed internally. And we have ample opportunities within that.
Therefore, ambiguous statements are a big problem:
- It is necessary that statements, especially from the self-government, cannot be misunderstood.
- Unfortunately, when you simultaneously say that you don't want to be American, you also say that you don't want to be Danish. How is that understood in an American context? That is, do we want our own citizenship or what?
Calls for settling disputes and letting Denmark lead the way
Aqqaluk Lynge believes that the United States will in no way accept an independent Greenland, and he says that the arrangement that Greenland currently has with Denmark in the form of the Self-Government Act is not found more advantageous anywhere in the world.
He therefore calls on the Greenland Government to find common ground with Denmark and let Denmark take the lead in the talks with the United States, which will take place this week, where Greenland Prime Minister Vivian Motzfeldt (S) and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Naalakkersuisoq Vivian Motzfeldt stated on Friday to DR that Greenland must take the lead and talk to the US, and that is a dangerous strategy, according to the assessment from Aqqaluk Lynge:
- I think our Minister of Foreign Affairs should stop acting as if we come from a huge country. We are a very small population, and Denmark is a small partner in NATO cooperation.
- Let Denmark, which is responsible for foreign and security policy, take the lead in this. The second thing is nonsense, to start showing those you meet that there is great disagreement here, he says and warns against voices that advocate that Greenland should talk to the US on its own:
- The situation is very serious. There are some things we have to sacrifice in this.
- We need to have a government that says that the world order we have known no longer exists, and that is why we are in a difficult situation with threats of one thing and the other.
Are after the civilian population
Aqqaluk Lynge particularly notes that the US is now asking for more than in previous agreements:
- What Americans want is to have access to it all.
- In all the agreements we have had with the Americans, the civilian population has been protected. Now it is the civilian population and the entire country that they are after, is the assessment.
