Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has condemned as “indecent” reported attempts by a US national to pay locals $200,000 (€186,000) each to sign a petition calling for Greenland to join the United States.
The Arctic island, an autonomous territory of EU member state Denmark, has been at the centre of repeated annexation calls by US President Donald Trump, who has argued Washington needs to take control of it for national security reasons.
“A foreign individual is offering money for a signature to incorporate Greenland into another country. That is not just deeply worrying. It is indecent,” Nielsen wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR reported earlier in the day that a man calling himself “Cliff” had offered a taxi driver in the capital, Nuuk, $200,000 to sign the petition.
The taxi driver, Danny Brandt, told KNR he had declined the offer.
Brandt later wrote about the encounter on social media, where another user commented in the thread that he too had been approached with money.
He said he had reported the matter to the police.
Greenland police told AFP they had “received reports that cannot be ruled out as being connected to the current political situation”.
The force declined to confirm the number of complaints lodged or their substance.
In his Facebook post, Nielsen stressed that the territory’s political future was not for sale.
“We are a democratic society. Our future is not negotiated in a taxi. And it is not bought with money,” he said.
“Decisions about our country are made by us. That ought to be easy enough to understand.”
Trump in January stepped back from weeks of aggressive rhetoric over Greenland, announcing he had reached a “framework” agreement on the territory with NATO’s secretary general. The details of that arrangement have remained vague.
Denmark and the Greenlandic government are currently engaged in talks with Washington about the future of the Arctic island, with Copenhagen having repeatedly rejected the idea of selling or surrendering the territory.
The reported cash offers have added a fresh layer of tension to those discussions.
Trump first floated the idea of buying Greenland during his first term in 2019, a proposal swiftly dismissed by Danish authorities at the time.
Around 56,000 people live on Greenland, which retains close constitutional ties with Denmark in foreign affairs and defence, while Nuuk handles most domestic matters under a self-rule arrangement dating back to 2009.
