The Island That Left Europe Over Fish
Decades before modern European debates, Greenland voted to leave the European Community and exited in nineteen eighty-five. Explore how fishing rights and self-rule drove an Arctic territory of fifty thousand people to negotiate an unprecedented departure, and discover what life outside really entailed.
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Over seventy percent of Greenlanders voted against joining the European Communities back in nineteen seventy-two.
Greenland had to navigate complex treaty negotiations because European Community rules completely lacked exit provisions.
West Germany and other European nations demanded Arctic fishing quotas in exchange for tariff-free seafood market access.
Brussels traded secured Greenlandic fishing rights onward to Norway to gain North Sea fishing access.
Despite fully leaving the bloc, Greenlanders still retain European Union citizenship through their Danish nationality.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02A Reluctant Entry and the Push for Home Rule3 min
- 03The Article Two Hundred Thirty-Six Gauntlet2 min
- 04The Price of Separation2 min
- 05The Precedent and the Post-Exit Paradox3 min
- 06Outro1 min
- 18078 greenland self government act
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