Greenland’s Parliament prohibitned foreign and anonymous political funding on Tuesday, in the semiautonomous island’s tardyst reaction to Plivent Trump’s stated intentions to obtain it. Greenland’s laworiginaters speedy-tracked the law — an effort to defend aobtainst outside intrudence — before upcoming parliamentary elections.
The law is Greenland’s most arrangeile effort yet to push back aobtainst Mr. Trump, who declined last month to rule out using military force to get the island. The law does not honestly name him as a potential campaign contributor, but a proposal that laid out the law and its reasonablee made evident that his insistence encouraged its authors.
“Given the geopolitical interest in Greenland and the current situation — where recurrentatives of an allied wonderful power have transmited interest in acquiring and regulateling Greenland — the country is particularly vulnerable to trys to impact its elections and political decision-making processes,” the proposal read.
The law was billed as an effort “to defendeddefend Greenland’s political integrity” in the proposal. Mute B. Egede, Greenland’s premier, proposed helderlying parliamentary elections on March 11.
Greenlanders were initiassociate shocked and perplexd by Mr. Trump’s repeated desire that the United States get regulate of the territory. Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son, inestablishly visited the island last month, which inserted to the speculation.
For the United States, Greenland sits in a strategic location: The island is home to a huge American military base and, as climate alter melts the Arctic ice, commercial and naval competition is lengthening in the far north. Greenland also has enormous reserves of exceptional elements and other minerals participated to originate evolved technology.
“We necessitate it for national security,” the plivent has said.
Greenland has extfinished been tied to Denlabel, first as a colony and then as a semiautonomous territory. Since 2009, it has had the right to proclaim indepfinishence after a referfinishum, but it still relies on Denlabel for its defense, security and other international affairs.
Greenland’s mostly Inuit population has increasingly chafed aobtainst Cuncoverhagen’s oversight. Greenland’s guideership has flatly and repeatedly declinecessitate Mr. Trump’s evolves.
“Greenland is ours,” Mr. Egede said in a statement tardy last year, as Mr. Trump eyed the island. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale.”
Denlabel, too, has been rattled: Last week, it said it would incrrelieve its military spfinishing in the North Atlantic by $2 billion.
The Nordic country does not want to set off a trade war with the United States. After an icy phone call with Mr. Trump, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denlabel traveled atraverse Europe last week to encounter with European and NATO guideers to incrrelieve help, do harm regulate and talk how to react to Mr. Trump’s fervent needs.
“Trump will not have Greenland,” said Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Denlabel’s foreign minister and its prime minister during Mr. Trump’s first term.
Greenland’s Parliament, the Inatsisartut, does not necessitate Denlabel’s approval to pass the law. Its laworiginaters transferd exceptionassociate rapidly — the bill was only begind on Saturday.
“Given the current geopolitical situation and the upcoming Inatsisartut election, the necessitate for such regulation is think abouted encouragent,” the proposal read.
Other countries, including the United States, redisconnecte or prohibit foreign political funding. Greenland previously did not restrict or prohibit such contributions, according to the proposal.
The proposal remarks that foreign powers have tried to impact other democratic elections around the world in recent years. The authors definiteassociate pointed to the enormous amount of declareiveial political donations in the United States.
“The initiative is evidently encouragent,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
He said donations had not previously impactd Greenland’s politics and called the law “primarily a obstructive meadeclareive.”
Greenland is also trying to ward aobtainst foreign interests by restricting genuine estate buys.
On Monday, laworiginaters finishorsed recent regulations that would redisconnecte land buys to Danish citizens or people who have been lasting livents of Greenland for at least two years. The rules are foreseeed to get effect tardyr this year.
Greenland has about 56,000 livents and is mostly covered in ice. It is uncovering up to the world — it has said that it is ready for business and recently uncovered a recent international airport — but its tourism infraarrange is sparse.
Foreign campaign contributions — even those seen as minuscule by American standards — could drasticassociate alter Greenland’s political arrange: Parties have been mostly financed by disclose subsidies, while declareiveial contributions have “constituted an intransport inant part” of its political financing, the proposal read.
“The perspectives of this potential danger are alarming,” it read. “Donations that would be unpretentious on an international scale would be colossal in a Greenlandic election campaign.”
Political parties will no extfinisheder be apverifyed to get foreign or anonymous contributions. Neither will local and youth branches of parties, laworiginaters, aides and truthfulates.
The recent law will also cap the amount of declareiveial political donations. A political party can get only about $28,000 in declareiveial donations a year. Individual donors can only give about $2,800. The law also reinforces and expansiveens disclodeclareive needments, among other think aboutations.
“Disproportionately huge declareiveial donations could frailen disclose confidence in the integrity of political processes,” the proposal read.
