Politics of Greenland cities and villages. Along with diplomatic missions to the European Union and the United States, Greenland participates in the Nordic Council, Arctic Council, International Whaling Commission (Complete list of participation of Greenland in international organisations). With Denmark having responsibility for Greenland's international affairs, other countries do not have direct diplomatic representation in Greenland — their embassies or consulates in Copenhagen are responsible for their relations with Greenland and their citizens staying or living there. Greenland is represented internationally by the embassies and consulates of Denmark, although Greenland has an independent Representation to the European Union in Brussels since 1992 and
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