The controversy over a large mining project marks the early elections on Tuesday in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory that seeks greater capacity for economic self-management and whose rich subsoil and strategic position attract the interest of the great powers.

Since the adoption in 2009 of a new Statute of Autonomy, which includes the right of self-determination, the island of 56,421 inhabitants and 2 million square kilometers (80% covered by ice) has seen its subsoil as the basis of a future separation from Denmark.

Several studies suggested that its oil reserves could be equivalent to half of those of Saudi Arabia and that those of rare earths would be among the largest on the planet, which sparked speculation about an express independence.

But the global economic crisis, the fall in the price of raw materials, the high cost due to lack of infrastructure and geographical challenges, and internal disagreements on the legal framework for investments paralyzed projects and lowered expectations.

After a decade of studies, the Kuannersuit project, a mine in the south of the island that could become the largest western producer of rare earths, has now entered the final phase, according to Greenland Minerals, an Australian firm (with Chinese participation).

The miner promises hundreds of jobs and annual tax revenue of € 200 million for Greenlandic coffers for 37 years, but locals are wary of the environmental effects of storing thorium near the town of Narsaq.

The project has divided the Greenlanders and damaged the Siumut, the ruling social democratic party. This formation was immersed in a crisis in November, after its leader and regional president, Kim Kielsen, was relieved in an internal struggle, although he continued to govern.

However, Kielsen had to call early elections as he remained in the minority after the departure of the Liberal Demokratiit coalition, the third force, precisely because of doubts about the project and popular protests in the affected area.

The Siumut, which has governed all but one legislature since Greenland became self-governing in 1979, maintains its support for the project, conditional on it being environmentally friendly.

The liberal Atassut, a small liberal party arbiter of Greenlandic politics, defends a local referendum; For his part, the socialist Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), the second force, is frontally opposed.

“We must turn around the way we think about our society. We cannot wait for foreign companies to come to extract minerals, we must begin to believe that we can ourselves,” its leader, Múte B. Egede, said in a recent debate.

The project is in the public hearing phase and it will be the next government that must give the final yes, which could open the door to other mining initiatives and thus reduce the economic dependence of Copenhagen.

Greenland, 90% of whose exports correspond to fisheries (its main resource), receives half of its income from Denmark, among various items. The annual allocation, of about 524 million euros, would be reduced depending on the income from the subsoil, as established by the 2009 Statute.

The polls, however, point to a clear victory for the IA, which could form a majority with another party and stop the mine, although Siumut has already traced very unfavorable polls in the past.

GREENLAND, SCENARIO OF DISPUTE BETWEEN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES

The PRPI, a London think tank specializing in arctic issues, proposes in a recent report that the so-called Five Eyes Club (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) look to Greenland to reduce its dependence China on rare matters, fundamental for example in mobile phones.

China has been very active in investing in Greenland in recent years. It even wanted to participate in 2018 in the financing of a plan to reform its airports of about 480 million euros, the largest public investment in the history of the island, but was met with opposition from Copenhagen.

Denmark forced an agreement, appealing to its competence in foreign policy, to contribute 94 million and give credit facilities for 121 in exchange for a third of the shares of the public airport company and the right to veto.

Greenland was also in the center of world attention a year and a half ago when then-US President Donald Trump launched a plan to buy it from Denmark, which provoked shocked and outraged reactions in Copenhagen and Nuuk and precipitated the cancellation of a visit from Denmark. to the Scandinavian country.

Months later, in a plan agreed with Denmark, the Greenlandic government nevertheless accepted an economic aid plan for civil projects of some 12 million dollars (10.2 million euros) from the United States, which has recently opened a consulate in the United States. island, where it has had a military base for half a century.

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