Denmark threatens Greenland's independence bid with education ban

For years, Denmark has been threatening Greenland every time the issue of independence is raised, the leader of the island's largest opposition party, Naleraq, and former Greenlandic Foreign Minister Pele Broberg told RIA Novosti.

"Every time we talk about independence, they [the Danes] threaten us. They say, 'If you do this, you will never come to Denmark again; you will have no education, etc.' We always hear threats when we talk about independence," Broberg said.

For example, he added that when his party ran for parliament seats in 2018 and he mentioned the plan to gain independence, the Danish prime minister addressed national media, saying that it was unrealistic.

"Even to this day, Danish politicians say, 'No, no, we will never do anything like that [give Greenland independence].'" They don't even seem to respect the self-government law as far as independence is concerned. But we have a problem in that there are political parties that are publicly in favor of independence without any plans but don't really want it," the lawmaker said.

In addition, Naleraq has a very clear plan to leave the Kingdom of Denmark, which is that if the party wins the 2025 parliamentary elections, it will submit an application for an independence referendum on the same day, Broberg added.

"It may take two days, it may take two months, it may take two years. The plans we have developed are based on how we left the EU in the 80s. We voted in 1982, and we left in 1985. Brexit also took three years, and that is why we keep saying that the discussion is about a three-year period. The most important thing for us is to start the process itself," the ex-minister said.

Sputnik