Denmark may embrace NMD base at Thule

Though he’s facing a general election on Dec. 3 that could bring an end to his Siumut party government, Greenland’s premier, Jonathan Motzfeldt, headed to Copenhagen this week for talks that could lead to Danish approval of the U.S. National Missile Defence system, or “NMD.”

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has also invited Motzfeldt to join the Danish delegation to a NATO summit in Prague on Nov. 21 and 22.

The Reuters news agency reported last week that the U.S. may use the summit to persuade its NATO allies to accept the NMD as a NATO initiative, in return for shared technology.

Reuters also reported that Denmark may approve the use of the U.S. radar base at Thule if the NMD is rooted within NATO.

So far though, the Danish foreign ministry had not received a formal request from the U.S. to use Thule for missile defence — but it appears as if the Danish government is signalling that it may say yes to the idea under certain conditions.

In 1987, the Danish parliament passed a resolution forbidding the use of the radar base at Thule for offensive purposes.

In an interview on Radio Greenland this week, Motzfeldt expressed suspicion about the Danish government’s motives.

“The Danish government are giving mixed signals. This is a peculiar situation, due to the fact that they have given the impression that decisions will have to wait until the Americans by themselves have contacted Denmark. But now they are going ahead of the Americans by inviting them to talks about the Thule radar installation,” Motzfeldt said.

This is the first time the Danish government has invited their Greenlandic counterpart. The law of the home rule Government of Greenland explicitly says that the Danish government has the sole responsibility to perform foreign policy.