section_path: History/Home rule and self-rule (1945–present)
section_name: Home rule and self-rule (1945–present)
paragraph_text: Home rule and self-rule (1945–present)
  
  The first step towards a change of government was initiated with the Greenland Commission, which operated from 1948 to 1950. With its final report (the G-50), the first steps toward the modernization of Greenland were taken. The report recommended that Greenland become a modern welfare state, modelled after Denmark proper and with Denmark's development as sponsor, and the trade monopoly was abolished.
  
  With the 1953 Danish constitution, Greenland's colonial status ended, and the island was incorporated into the Danish realm as an amt (county), and thus fully integrated into Denmark like all other Danish counties. Danish citizenship was extended to Greenlanders. Danish policies toward Greenland consisted of a strategy of cultural assimilation — or de-Greenlandification. During this period, the Danish government promoted the exclusive use of the Danish language in official matters, and required Greenlanders to go to Denmark for their post-secondary education. Many Greenlandic children grew up in boarding schools in southern Denmark, and some lost their cultural ties to Greenland. While the policies "succeeded" in the sense of shifting Greenlanders from being primarily subsistence hunters into being urbanized wage earners, the Greenlandic elite began to reassert a Greenlandic cultural identity. A movement developed in favour of Greenlandic independence, reaching its peak in the 1970s.
  
  As in metropolitan Denmark, Greenland has seen significant expansion of the welfare state in the postwar era. Education and healthcare are free, and LGBTQ rights in Greenland are some of the most extensive in the Americas and the world. In 1987, the University of Greenland was founded to provide Greenlanders with higher education in their own language and country.
  
  The United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000 in 1946; Denmark firmly rejected the offer, as the island was seen as an integral part of the Danish kingdom, important to its history and national identity. In 1951 Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if deemed necessary by NATO. The U.S. military could freely use and move between these defence areas, but was not to infringe upon Danish sovereignty in Greenland. The United States greatly expanded Thule Air Base between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO defence strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than 100 km (62 miles) away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret nuclear missile launch sites in the Greenlandic ice cap, named Project Iceworm. According to documents declassified in 1996, this project was managed from Camp Century from 1960 to 1966 before abandonment as unworkable. The missiles were never fielded, and necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never sought. The Danish government was not aware of the programme's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking in the declassified documents for records related to the crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber near the Thule air base in 1968.
  
  In 1973, an amicable border dispute between Denmark and Canada arose over the ownership of Hans Island, a small island in Nares Strait directly between Greenland and the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The island remained in dispute until 2022, when both countries agreed to split the disputed island roughly in half.
  
  Due to political complications in relation to Denmark's entry into the European Common Market in 1972, Denmark began to seek a different status for Greenland, resulting in the Home Rule Act of 1979. A referendum was held on 17 January 1979. This gave Greenland limited autonomy, with its own legislature taking control of some internal policies, while the Parliament of Denmark maintained full control of external policies, security, and natural resources. The law came into effect on 1 May 1979. The Danish monarch remains Greenland's head of state. In 1985, Greenland left the European Economic Community (EEC), as it did not agree with the EEC 's commercial fishing regulations and an EEC ban on sealskin products.
  
  Greenland voters approved a referendum on greater autonomy on 25 November 2008. According to one study, the 2008 vote created what "can be seen as a system between home rule and full independence". On 21 June 2009, Greenland gained self-rule with provisions for assuming responsibility for self-government of its judicial affairs, policing matters, and natural resources. Also, Greenlanders were recognized as a separate people under international law. Denmark maintains control of the territory's foreign affairs and defence matters, and upholds an annual block grant of 3.2 billion Danish kroner. As Greenland begins to collect revenues from its natural resources, this grant will gradually be diminished; this is generally considered to be a step toward the territory's eventual full independence from Denmark. In 2012, Greenlandic was declared the sole official language of Greenland at a historic ceremony. In February 2024, Naalakkersuisut released a policy document outlining the territory's goal of asserting greater autonomy in international affairs. The strategy emphasizes Greenland's right to influence decisions that impact its future. Key objectives include strengthening relations with Arctic North America, promoting regional peace, enhancing security cooperation within the Kingdom of Denmark and NATO, and addressing the growing global interest in the Arctic from major powers such as the United States, Canada, Russia, and China.
  
  Since 2019, U.S. president Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. should control Greenland, stating that its residents "want to be with us", despite 85% opposition by Greenlandic adults. The Danish government called Trump's claims "absurd" and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized that Greenland is not for sale. Denmark's minister of defence Troels Lund Poulsen has said that Trump cannot demand a part of Denmark's territory, and Greenland's prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Trump will not get Greenland. The Greenland government has accused the United States of foreign interference in its affairs, and Greenland's then-prime minister Múte Bourup Egede said "until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working very closely, but that time is over." In April 2025, the New York Times reported that plans to claim Greenland were now official U.S. policy, to be accomplished through public relations and social media, and by persuading Greenlanders with cash payments. In April 2025, U.S. Pituffik Space Base commander Susannah Meyers was fired for undermining U.S leadership after she wrote an e-mail in which she disagreed with U.S. vice president JD Vance 's assessment of Greenland's security.
  
  The first step towards a change of government was initiated with the Greenland Commission, which operated from 1948 to 1950. With its final report (the G-50), the first steps toward the modernization of Greenland were taken. The report recommended that Greenland become a modern welfare state, modelled after Denmark proper and with Denmark's development as sponsor, and the trade monopoly was abolished.
  
  With the 1953 Danish constitution, Greenland's colonial status ended, and the island was incorporated into the Danish realm as an amt (county), and thus fully integrated into Denmark like all other Danish counties. Danish citizenship was extended to Greenlanders. Danish policies toward Greenland consisted of a strategy of cultural assimilation — or de-Greenlandification. During this period, the Danish government promoted the exclusive use of the Danish language in official matters, and required Greenlanders to go to Denmark for their post-secondary education. Many Greenlandic children grew up in boarding schools in southern Denmark, and some lost their cultural ties to Greenland. While the policies "succeeded" in the sense of shifting Greenlanders from being primarily subsistence hunters into being urbanized wage earners, the Greenlandic elite began to reassert a Greenlandic cultural identity. A movement developed in favour of Greenlandic independence, reaching its peak in the 1970s.
  
  As in metropolitan Denmark, Greenland has seen significant expansion of the welfare state in the postwar era. Education and healthcare are free, and LGBTQ rights in Greenland are some of the most extensive in the Americas and the world. In 1987, the University of Greenland was founded to provide Greenlanders with higher education in their own language and country.
  
  The United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000 in 1946; Denmark firmly rejected the offer, as the island was seen as an integral part of the Danish kingdom, important to its history and national identity. In 1951 Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement, which allowed the United States to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if deemed necessary by NATO. The U.S. military could freely use and move between these defence areas, but was not to infringe upon Danish sovereignty in Greenland. The United States greatly expanded Thule Air Base between 1951 and 1953 as part of a unified NATO defence strategy. The local population of three nearby villages was moved more than 100 km (62 miles) away in the winter. The United States tried to construct a subterranean network of secret nuclear missile launch sites in the Greenlandic ice cap, named Project Iceworm. According to documents declassified in 1996, this project was managed from Camp Century from 1960 to 1966 before abandonment as unworkable. The missiles were never fielded, and necessary consent from the Danish Government to do so was never sought. The Danish government was not aware of the programme's mission until 1997, when they discovered it while looking in the declassified documents for records related to the crash of a nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber near the Thule air base in 1968.
  
  In 1973, an amicable border dispute between Denmark and Canada arose over the ownership of Hans Island, a small island in Nares Strait directly between Greenland and the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The island remained in dispute until 2022, when both countries agreed to split the disputed island roughly in half.
  
  Due to political complications in relation to Denmark's entry into the European Common Market in 1972, Denmark began to seek a different status for Greenland, resulting in the Home Rule Act of 1979. A referendum was held on 17 January 1979. This gave Greenland limited autonomy, with its own legislature taking control of some internal policies, while the Parliament of Denmark maintained full control of external policies, security, and natural resources. The law came into effect on 1 May 1979. The Danish monarch remains Greenland's head of state. In 1985, Greenland left the European Economic Community (EEC), as it did not agree with the EEC 's commercial fishing regulations and an EEC ban on sealskin products.
  
  Greenland voters approved a referendum on greater autonomy on 25 November 2008. According to one study, the 2008 vote created what "can be seen as a system between home rule and full independence". On 21 June 2009, Greenland gained self-rule with provisions for assuming responsibility for self-government of its judicial affairs, policing matters, and natural resources. Also, Greenlanders were recognized as a separate people under international law. Denmark maintains control of the territory's foreign affairs and defence matters, and upholds an annual block grant of 3.2 billion Danish kroner. As Greenland begins to collect revenues from its natural resources, this grant will gradually be diminished; this is generally considered to be a step toward the territory's eventual full independence from Denmark. In 2012, Greenlandic was declared the sole official language of Greenland at a historic ceremony. In February 2024, Naalakkersuisut released a policy document outlining the territory's goal of asserting greater autonomy in international affairs. The strategy emphasizes Greenland's right to influence decisions that impact its future. Key objectives include strengthening relations with Arctic North America, promoting regional peace, enhancing security cooperation within the Kingdom of Denmark and NATO, and addressing the growing global interest in the Arctic from major powers such as the United States, Canada, Russia, and China.
  
  Since 2019, U.S. president Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. should control Greenland, stating that its residents "want to be with us", despite 85% opposition by Greenlandic adults. The Danish government called Trump's claims "absurd" and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen emphasized that Greenland is not for sale. Denmark's minister of defence Troels Lund Poulsen has said that Trump cannot demand a part of Denmark's territory, and Greenland's prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Trump will not get Greenland. The Greenland government has accused the United States of foreign interference in its affairs, and Greenland's then-prime minister Múte Bourup Egede said "until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working very closely, but that time is over." In April 2025, the New York Times reported that plans to claim Greenland were now official U.S. policy, to be accomplished through public relations and social media, and by persuading Greenlanders with cash payments. In April 2025, U.S. Pituffik Space Base commander Susannah Meyers was fired for undermining U.S leadership after she wrote an e-mail in which she disagreed with U.S. vice president JD Vance 's assessment of Greenland's security.