Today’s big topic: The European Union and Greenland will work together on infrastructure and green energy
EU-Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) brought an extra 200 million euros (about 1.5 billion Danish kroner) for Greenlanders, along with a cooperation agreement and a promise to double EU support for Greenland in the next seven-year EU budget, to a total of just under 4 billion kroner through 2034.
What’s happening?
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, has visited Greenland for the second time in two years. During a press conference in Nuuk with Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, von der Leyen reiterated that the EU stands firmly with Denmark and Greenland and that Greenland’s territorial integrity is inviolable. She also brought an additional €200 million (around DKK 1.5 billion) for Greenland and promised to double EU support to just under DKK 4 billion through 2034. A new cooperation agreement will expand the EU’s work with Greenland beyond fisheries and education to include infrastructure, green energy, and the extraction of raw materials. The EU has also expanded satellite cooperation, meaning people in northern Greenland will get faster and better internet.
»The EU has proved not only to be an important partner, but also a loyal and trustworthy friend«, Jens-Frederik Nielsen said, repeating the message he brought to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where he delivered a speech last year:
»Greenland needs the EU, and the EU needs Greenland«.
Why it matters!
Greenland’s importance has shot to the top as geopolitical tensions in the Arctic grow. The US, China, and Europe all have a direct interest in what happens there, and von der Leyen said the EU will present a new Arctic strategy this autumn. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but has extensive self-government, and its government has spent years trying to become a more independent voice in international politics. Against the backdrop of US interest in Greenland, the EU is positioning itself as a reliable partner that can support Greenland’s development in a less threatening way than either the US or China. At the same time, Denmark and 10 other NATO countries are taking part in the Arctic Sentry exercise to strengthen security around Greenland and the High North.
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In other news
– Temporary rent subsidy will be made permanent – and the fund will be doubled
Denmark should have fewer homeless people, and for that reason the government will double the fund for rent subsidies and make it permanent. Specifically, the rent subsidy will be doubled from 15 million to 30 million kroner for the most vulnerable residents. Municipalities with at least 40 homeless people in the research center VIVE’s latest homelessness count will be offered a share of the fund. The money will be distributed proportionally to the number of homeless people.
That means 33 municipalities will be covered by the scheme if the bill, as expected, is passed later this year, allowing the scheme to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, the news agency Ritzau writes.
– The government will return a rare meteorite to Greenland
After a meeting between the Greenlandic and Danish governments on Monday, one thing was clear: The disputed 20-ton iron meteorite Agpalilik, which was shipped from Greenland to Denmark in 1967, is now to be handed back. The debate over the iron meteorite, which has been on display for nearly 60 years in the courtyard of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, flared up this spring. Greenlandic politicians from the Naleraq party, both in the Greenlandic Parliament, Inatsisartut, and in Denmark’s Parliament, demanded that the iron meteorite be returned from Denmark as quickly as possible.
– Panda cubs at the zoo are still nowhere in sight
The female panda Mao Sun, who normally lives at the Copenhagen Zoo, has not become pregnant this year either, the zoo said in a press release. Until this year, the zoo has tried to get the two pandas to reproduce naturally – without producing any panda cubs. That is why the zoo chose, for the first time this year, to inseminate the female panda instead. In the press release, Copenhagen Zoo emphasized that while insemination is a well-tested method, it is not a guaranteed success, according to the news agency Ritzau.
Talk of town: Ai is changing the high school classroom, teachers say
High school teacher Bodil-Marie Gade is tired of acting as an enforcer toward her students. That is not why she became a teacher.
She has just examined the first students from the ’Generation ChatGPT’ – the generation that, for the first time, has had access to artificial intelligence throughout all three years of high school.
Bodil-Marie Gade has been a high school teacher for 20 years. At the high school of Horsens Gymnasium & HF, she loves teaching students Danish, French, and rhetoric. But over the past decade, she has seen a shift that worries her. More and more, she notices a lack of deep focus and concentration among students. Over the past three years, another threat has appeared in the classroom: the use of artificial intelligence.
And this summer, she graded about 209 essays as an external examiner. During exams, students are monitored, which makes it harder for them to use ai. She found that students have simply gotten worse at writing. We’re not talking about the occasional misplaced comma or a forgotten present-tense ending, but rather entire sentences that are a mess, where the syntax collapses, she says.
»I sensed a lack of linguistic and cognitive training. It was few and far between. It was very striking«, she says.
The Danish Evaluation Institute has previously mapped students’ use of ai in high school. The study found that nine out of ten high school students use artificial intelligence in connection with school. Two out of three students say in the study that at least once they have used artificial intelligence in a way they consider cheating when turning in assignments. Nine out of ten say they have cheated in connection with group work in class. Technological development has made her worried. She loves her job as a high school teacher, but she can recognize the feeling of »learning grief«.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.