Greenland’s Democrats want broad coalition to show unity in face of Trump pressure

(Reuters) — Greenland’s political parties must set aside disagreements and swiftly form a broad coalition government to show unity in the face of a U.S. campaign to annex the island, the Democrats said on Friday after winning this week’s election.

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the pro-business party which favours gradual independence from Denmark, expressed the urgency of the situation in a Facebook post following an initial round of coalition discussions.

“This is not the time for political tactics and internal disagreements. The situation for our country is far too serious for that,” he said, adding, “When someone threatens us, looks down on us or speaks badly of us, we stand together.”

On Thursday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. needed control of Greenland to enhance international security, adding when asked directly about the prospect of annexation: “I think that will happen.”

The leaders of the five parties in Greenland’s Inatsisartut parliament on Friday rejected Trump’s comments.

“We – all party leaders — cannot accept the repeated comments about annexation and control of Greenland,” they said in a joint statement.

“We find this behaviour unacceptable towards friends and allies in a defense alliance,” they said, adding they strongly condemned attempts to create division.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Friday that the Danish government fully supported the Greenlandic party leaders.

“It shouldn’t need repeating, but Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. We have a clear expectation that other nations respect our territorial integrity,” Frederiksen said in an emailed comment.

Greenland’s Democrats, who more than tripled their seats to 10 in the 31-seat chamber, have advocated for a responsible extraction of Greenland’s vast but largely untapped mineral resources, as a means to develop its economy as the semi-autonomous territory transitions to full independence from Denmark.

The strongly pro-independence Naleraq party came second in Tuesday’s election, doubling its seats to eight.