http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article37690.ece?lang=EN17/4/2008"Gr...

http://sermitsiaq.gl/politik/article37690.ece?lang=EN

17/4/2008

"Greenland earns right to independence"

Greenland has officially received the right to independence through a law proposal put forth by the Danish-Greenlandic Self-Rule Commission.


Greenland will now have the formal rights to independence from Denmark after the Danish-Greenlandic Self-Rule Commission agreed on a law proposal on Thursday outlining the measure. The Commission's work has extended over four years. Past Danish prime ministers had given their word that Greenland could secure independence, but this marks the first time measure has been officially recorded.

Frank Jensen, who is a member of the Commission, does not expect many years to go by before Greenland's revenues make independence feasible, and even at that point he expected that Greenland would take one step at a time.

'I'm convinced that relations between the Greenlandic people and the Danish people are so strong that the Greenlandic people might remove themselves from a few formal structures in the constitution, but they will maintain a close relationship with Denmark. We still have a royal house in common, we will still have the Supreme Court,' said Jensen.

The Commission has decided at the same time that the Home-Rule government will have the right to secure minerals from the Greenlandic underground, but future revenues will be deducted from the Danish block grant.


Facts about the new Self-Rule law

The Greenlandic-Danish Self-Rule Commission has agreed that the minerals in Greenland's underground belong to Greenland. According to their proposal for new Self-Rule legislation, the first DKK 75 million from oil exploration, for example, will go to the Home Rule government. The subsequent revenues would be divided while the DKK 3.2 billion block grant is reduced. When the block grant is compensated for, the rest of the revenues will go to Greenland, but the agreement is once again up for negotiating.

The Self-Rule Commission was established in June 2004 to identify areas which could be taken over for Self-Rule. The Commission's proposals for a new self-rule legislation will now be debated by the Danish People's Party and be debated in Greenland. Only the Danish People's Party stands outside the agreement.