World News
The EU signs a declaration with Greenland and Denmark in Nuuk and puts 200 million euros behind it
By Staff Writer | 8 September 2026
Ursula von der Leyen flew to the Greenlandic capital to sign a joint declaration with the island's premier and the Danish Prime Minister, promised 200 million euros over two years and said she wants to double the EU's budget support from 2028. Eleven NATO countries began an Arctic exercise on the island the same day, without American troops.
The President of the European Commission signed a joint declaration with Greenland and Denmark in Nuuk on Monday and announced a 200 million euro partnership package to be invested in and with Greenland this year and next. The declaration was signed by Ursula von der Leyen, Greenland's Premier, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Denmark's Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. The Commission describes the package as part of its Global Gateway programme and says it reaches from education and fisheries to satellite and cable connectivity, hydropower and critical raw materials, with money also for housing, sustainable tourism and small businesses.
Mrs von der Leyen said the money was for tackling climate change, improving internet connections and upgrading hydropower plants, fisheries and education, and that she wanted to double the EU's budget support to Greenland to around half a billion euros from 2028. She said Greenland could count on the EU, that it was a strategic ally and a trusted friend, and that she had come back to deliver the results of the cooperation promised on her last visit.
Greenland's future is for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide. No one else
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
She said territorial integrity, sovereignty and the inviolability of borders were fundamental principles of international law. The context is the repeated statements by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that the United States should take control of Greenland for security reasons, which have drawn objections from the Greenlandic and Danish governments and strained relations among NATO allies.
What Nuuk and Copenhagen said
Mr Nielsen called the 27-nation EU a loyal and trusted friend at a time when the island faced new challenges that it could not tackle alone.
Through these challenging times, your support to us is unfailing
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Premier of Greenland
Mrs Frederiksen told reporters that Denmark had been under pressure, that this had been very clear, and that her government was thankful for the support it had received from its European partners and globally. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, which is a NATO member.
In January, Denmark and seven European allies sent a small contingent of military personnel to the island for exercises focused on Arctic security. The United States responded with a threat of new tariffs on all eight, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, which was withdrawn after NATO agreed to increase security in the Arctic.
Arctic Shield
The visit coincided with the first day of Arctic Shield, an exercise by 11 NATO countries on the island involving about 400 military personnel, including special forces trained for Arctic conditions from Canada, Denmark and Finland. It runs from 7 to 18 September. No United States troops are taking part.
For the construction and energy trades the substance is in the list rather than the speeches: hydropower upgrades, a cable and satellite connectivity programme, housing and critical raw materials, all with a two-year spending window and a funding line the Commission says it wants to more than double from 2028. The declaration itself is a political document. The 200 million euros is the part that will be tendered.