Cejiss

Europe is one of the biggest aid donors in the world, but Brussels is not flapping its fat chequebook in the face of Greenland out of generosity.

It is not out of concern for Greenland's 56,000-strong population that the European Commission has set aside a tidy sum to help rectify the territory's "structural weaknesses". Greenland, after all, is not even a member of the European Union, having pulled out in the 1980s in order to manage its own fish stocks.

Europe has over the last 30 years been happy to leave Greenland in the hands of Denmark, its former colonial master. Problems such as the woefully under-educated workforce have until now been a concern for Copenhagen, not Brussels.

Greenland is however suddenly of "increased geo-strategic importance" to the commission. Brussels wants to open negotiations on a host of polices from education to the environment, energy, food safety, disaster resilience and maritime transport.

In exchange for closer ties, the commission is prepared to hand over €217.8m between 2014 and 2020, or around €4,000 per inhabitant, according to negotiating documents. The motivation is quite simple: protectionism is on the rise, and the EU wants access to Greenland's raw materials before markets are closed off elsewhere.

"The importance of Greenland for Europe in terms of raw materials cannot be overestimated. Greenland is home to vast deposits of rare earths and other minerals", Antonio Tajani, EU industry commissioner, told an MEP last month. "The EU's interest in cooperation with Greenland on raw materials is due to Greenland's geo-strategic and economic position," Tajani added in a written exchange. Of interest is Greenland's oil, aluminium, gold, "rare earth elements", rubies and uranium.

The island government is, however, playing down talk of an imminent deal. "At the moment we have a fisheries agreement with the EU. We hope to conclude a partnership on education in the spring. There might then be preliminary talks on other areas," Minninnquaq Kleist, head of office in Greenland's department of foreign affairs, told PublicServiceEurope.com.

As of last year, Greenland controls its own mineral and oil rights, having wrestled them from Copenhagen. Around 100 exploration licenses have been issued. Initial results, says Kleist, are "very promising". There are, he says, "very big deposits". Talk of a deal giving the EU access to rare earths is, for the moment, just "speculation".

So despite the fact that the minnow will be up against a bureaucratic giant in the coming negotiations, the EU is desperate, and Greenland is well placed to strike a hard bargain. Greenlanders have already shown they are willing to say no to Brussels.

"We are talking about a partnership agreement with the EU. That doesn't mean we want to join," Kleist says. "If we implemented all the EU regulations we would need 56,000 people just to govern 56,000 people." A dislike for bureaucracy was one of the reasons Greenland distanced itself from the EU 30 years ago, says Kleist. Negotiators would do well to beware of Brussels officials bearing gifts.

The article is republished with permission of PSE. Copyright and original publication by PSE.