Greenlanders Vote on Autonomy as Slump Clouds Independence Plan - by Christian Wienberg
Greenlanders vote today on a proposal to wrest more autonomy from Denmark, an effort at increasing control over their natural resources that may founder in the face of the global economic slump. The referendum, which polls show is likely to be approved, would give the 56,000 mainly native Inuit citizens of Greenland full control over deciding whether they want to secede from Denmark. Currently, the government in Copenhagen would have to approve such a move. It would also for the first time mandate a division of income from natural resources with Denmark, which has ruled the territory since the 18th century.“The prospects that Greenland will become a natural resource-based economy certainly haven’t improved,” said Lars- Emil Johansen, former premier of Greenland, and one of the lawmakers who drafted the bill that’s up for vote. Greenland is also rich in diamonds, iron ore, lead, zinc and uranium. Greenland entered the then European Community -- now the European Union -- with Denmark in 1973. It quit the bloc in 1985 in a dispute over fishing quotas, making it the only region to ever withdraw from the EU, which now has 27 members. Passage of today’s referendum would presage a vote on full independence, government officials and trade union leaders say.
Premier Hans Enoksen has said Greenland may hold a referendum on full independence by 2020, while SIK, Greenland’s biggest labor union, has said it wants a vote in 2012.
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