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
Western European Union European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) within NATO structures. The ESDI was intended as a European 'pillar' within NATO, partly to allow European countries to act militarily where NATO wished not to, and partly to alleviate the United States' financial burden of maintaining military bases in Europe, which it had done since the Cold War. The Berlin agreement allowed European countries (through the WEU) to use NATO assets if it so wished. In 1998 the United Kingdom, which had traditionally opposed the introduction of European autonomous defence capacities, signed the Saint-Malo declaration. This marked a turning point as the declaration