Greenland–European Union relations geostrategic importance of Greenland for the EU. The Brexit debate has reignited talk about the EU in Greenland, and there have been calls for the island to rejoin the Union. Greenland–European Union relations Greenland, an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark (which also includes the countries of Denmark and Faroe Islands) is one of the EU countries’ overseas countries and territories (OCT). Greenland receives funding from the EU for sustainable development and has signed agreements increasing cooperation with the EU. Greenland joined the then European Community in 1973 as a county along with Denmark, but after gaining autonomy
Greenland from Europe. There are no native or free-living reptiles or amphibians on the island. Phytogeographically, Greenland belongs to the Arctic province of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The island is sparsely populated in vegetation; plant life consists mainly of grassland and small bushes, which is regularly grazed by livestock. The most common tree native to Greenland is the European white birch ("Betula pubescens") along with gray-leaf willow ("Salix glauca"), rowans ("Sorbus aucuparia"), common junipers ("Juniperus communis") and other smaller trees, mainly willows. Greenland's flora comprises about 500 species of higher plants, i.e. flowering plants, ferns, horsetails and lycopodiophyta.