Text · Opinion parliamentary committee
On the Council Decision amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other
Full title
On the Council Decision amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other
Document AFET-AD-785248 · COM(2025)0599 – C100248/2025 – 2025/0264(CNS)
- Kind
- Opinion parliamentary committee AFET-AD-785248
- Date
- 6 May 2026
- Committee
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Rapporteur
- Urmas Paet
- Dossier
- 2025-0264
More facts (3)
- Formats
- Official page PDF Word
- Subject matter
- EXT, PTOM, CDEV
- Reference
- COM(2025)0599 – C100248/2025 – 2025/0264(CNS)
Text
The text as parsed from the official Word file. Every paragraph has a link (¶) and can be saved to a project as a passage.
Jump to an amendment (29)
- Amendment 1
- Amendment 2
- Amendment 3
- Amendment 4
- Amendment 5
- Amendment 6
- Amendment 7
- Amendment 8
- Amendment 9
- Amendment 10
- Amendment 11
- Amendment 12
- Amendment 13
- Amendment 14
- Amendment 15
- Amendment 16
- Amendment 17
- Amendment 18
- Amendment 19
- Amendment 20
- Amendment 21
- Amendment 22
- Amendment 23
- Amendment 24
- Amendment 25
- Amendment 26
- Amendment 27
- Amendment 28
- Amendment 29
The Committee on Foreign Affairs submits the following to the Committee on Development, as the committee responsible:
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (1a) On 26 November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU's diplomatic strategy and geopolitical cooperation in the Arctic, emphasising the need to protect critical infrastructure, secure raw materials and strengthen NATO cooperation in the region. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (1b) On 7 June 2023, the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy adopted a joint communication on a New Agenda for Relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on strengthening political cooperation, boosting trade and sustainable investment via the Global Gateway strategy, and fostering a fair, green and digital transition. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (1c) On 8 October 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU's political strategy on Latin America, promoting a strategic partnership that is based on shared values and focused on democracy, sustainability and economic cooperation. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (3a) Given the increasing geopolitical significance of Greenland, the funding allocated to Greenland under the Programme should be increased to reflect the Union’s strengthened commitment to supporting strategic partnerships with Greenland. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (5) The implementation of the amended Decision (EU) 2021/1764 should support the Global Gateway strategy3 , the Union’s external investment strategy to advance the sustainable development goals together with partner countries and territories. Complementarities between actions under the Global Gateway strategy and its toolbox should be strengthened to help unlock investment opportunities in the OCTs and promote their more effective integration into Union’s regional cooperation frameworks. | (5) The implementation of the amended Decision (EU) 2021/1764 should actively contribute to the Global Gateway strategy3, reinforcing the Union's capacity to project economic and strategic influence through its external investment policy, thereby advancing the Union's objectives in connectivity, economic security, and geopolitical positioning. |
| 3 Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank - The Global Gateway (JOIN/2021/30 December 2021). | 3 Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank - The Global Gateway (JOIN/2021/30 December 2021). |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (5a) The OCTs should be recognised not only as partners in sustainable development, but also as strategic anchors that can enhance the Union’s presence in key maritime and regional spaces. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (5b) The decision on the association of the OCTs, including Greenland, with the EU should therefore serve as a strategic instrument to foster and deepen the Union’s relations with neighbouring countries and partners located in the wider geographical neighbourhood of the OCTs, including those geographically distant from the European continent. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6a) The OCTs contribute to the global presence and geopolitical reach of the Union across Atlantic, Antarctic, Arctic, Caribbean, Indian and Pacific regions, thereby enabling it to promote and defend its interests globally and to promote democratic values and the rule of law, including in regional organisations through OCT representation, in a manner consistent with climate objectives and the protection of local communities. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6b) Given their strategic geographic location, OCTs require a strengthened and mutually beneficial partnership with the Union, especially whenever they are exposed to growing external influence and interference from third countries such as China or are directly exposed to the spillover effects of the migration crisis from Venezuela, as it is the case for Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. In this context, strengthened Union support is necessary to enhance their resilience, border management capacities as well as democratic and socio-economic stability. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6c) Other OCTs, in particular Saint Pierre-et-Miquelon, as well as the French OCTs in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, constitute essential footholds for maritime routes, European presence in the Indo-Pacific, cooperation with third countries in their regional environment, and the defence of the Union's strategic interests and those of its allies. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6d) French Guiana, as the Union's gateway to South America and home to the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, represents a critical Union strategic asset in the context of heightened Union engagement in South America through the EU-Latin America partnership strategy and the conclusion of negotiations with MERCOSUR, while also ensuring Union autonomous access to space. New Caledonia has the world's fifth-largest nickel reserves and significant deposits of cobalt and other critical raw materials, thus representing a crucial asset for the Union’s strategic autonomy and contributing to the diversification of Union supply chains. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6e) OCTs other than French Guiana and New Caledonia contribute substantially to the Union's global maritime estate, and embody the geographic, cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as the global reach, of the Union. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (6f) All OCTs except one have permanent populations whose inhabitants enjoy the full rights of citizenship of the Union by virtue of their nationality of the associated Member State, thereby forming an integral part of the Union’s citizens while residing outside the Union's territorial scope. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (7) The OCTs represent unique and strategic assets that benefit the Union as a whole – including proximity to third countries, exceptional conditions for space and astrophysics research, abundant renewable energy potential, rich biodiversity, extensive maritime zones, and availability of mineral resources. The European Competitiveness Fund should leverage their potential as geostrategic outposts, particularly in support of the Union’s objectives on security, preparedness, regional value chains, and competitiveness. | (7) The OCTs represent unique and strategic assets that benefit the Union as a whole – including proximity to third countries, exceptional conditions for space and astrophysics research, as well as, for some of them, a geographic positioning offering particularly favourable conditions for access to space, deployment of space infrastructure and support for European capabilities in that domain, abundant renewable energy potential, rich biodiversity, extensive maritime zones, and availability of mineral resources. The OCTs also constitute essential support points for presence, resilience, maritime security, surveillance of exclusive economic zones, protection of critical infrastructure and projection of Union's interests in major geopolitical spaces, particularly in the North Atlantic, the Arctic, the Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific and the Antarctic. The European Competitiveness Fund should leverage their potential as geostrategic outposts, particularly in support of the Union’s objectives on security, preparedness, regional value chains, and competitiveness. The European Competitiveness Fund should also promote targeted investments in port infrastructure, maritime logistics and intermodal connectivity in the OCTs, recognising their critical role as entry points to global trade routes, hubs for supply chain diversification and enablers of the Union's presence in key maritime basins. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (7a) It should be stressed that many OCTs possess significant reserves of critical raw materials and renewable energy resources that are essential to the Union's strategic autonomy and green transition. Those resources are the sovereign patrimony of the peoples of the OCTs, who hold the primary right to determine the conditions of their exploration and exploitation. The pursuit of the Union's strategic objectives should never compromise the sovereignty, prosperity or environmental integrity of OCT communities. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10a) As the world's largest island and with a strategic position in the Arctic region, Greenland provides the Union with opportunities to strengthen its political role in the region as it plays a vital role in an area of intensifying geopolitical competition, climate change-driven transformations and emerging shipping routes, evidenced by the growing external pressure and unfounded territorial claims it currently faces. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10b) In particular, Greenland constitutes one of the extremes of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, a strategic corridor critical for European maritime domain awareness. Control of the North Atlantic sea lanes and the detection and deterrence of hybrid threats is therefore increasingly important, also in light of initiatives such as Polar Connect and Vision 2030, which envisage submarine cable routes linking Greenland and Iceland to continental Europe. Ensuring the security of such undersea infrastructure, including cables and associated digital ecosystems, against sabotage, espionage and physical disruption, requires close and coordinated joint action between the EU, NATO allies and Arctic partners. Moreover, as foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) directed at Arctic and North Atlantic communities poses a distinct and growing threat to public resilience, democratic debate and situational awareness in the region, a comprehensive approach to the security of the GIUK corridor must integrate not only maritime surveillance and military deterrence but also the protection of critical infrastructure and the defence of the information environment through shared standards, early-warning mechanisms and coordinated counter-FIMI measures. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10c) Greenland also has significant unexploited reserves of critical raw materials, including manganese and graphite, and possesses significant potential for renewable and hydroelectric energy. Those reserves, together with those of other OCTs, notably New Caledonia with its significant nickel resources, could enhance the Union’s strategic autonomy and contribute to reducing dependencies on third countries. In addition, Greenland offers unique advantages for the development of the Union's space policy, including space access, ground infrastructure and research capabilities. Its geographic positioning provides strategic opportunities for satellite deployment, tracking and data collection, thereby contributing to the Union's technological sovereignty and autonomy in space. Any excavation of Greenlandic resources needs to be conducted in a sustainable manner and in close cooperation with the Greenlandic people. Greenland is already experiencing the severe impact of climate change, including accelerating ice sheet melt, coastal erosion and changing marine ecosystems. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10d) Support for EU accession is increasing among Greenlanders and the importance of respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination of Greenland as an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark is paramount, as Greenland’s people firmly reject any external attempts to alter that status without their free will and consent. The Union and its partners should therefore support Denmark and Greenland in safeguarding the region’s stability in the face of external geopolitical pressures, including through enhanced Arctic cooperation. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10e) Greenland should have a stronger voice in Arctic governance, enhance its security including through the development of critical infrastructure, and should gain access to Iris, Galileo and other relevant EU programmes. Should Greenland achieve EU candidate status, the Global Europe instrument could offer Greenland concrete pre-accession benefits through deeper strategic and economic cooperation with the Union. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (10f) Cooperation with Greenland should ensure that the Union remains a strategic, reliable and trusted partner in a context of growing international interest in the region, while the sustainable development of Greenland must fully respect the rights, livelihoods and traditional knowledge of local and indigenous communities, and should ensure their meaningful participation in decisions concerning resource extraction. The Commission and the Member States should also support the development of high-quality higher education institutions and an integrated education-to-employment framework in Greenland. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| ‘(b) to support and to cooperate with Greenland in addressing its major challenges such as the raising of its education level and economic diversification, and to contribute to the capacity of the administration of Greenland to formulate and implement national policies.’; | ‘(b) to support and to cooperate with Greenland in addressing its major challenges such as direct threats to its sovereignty as well as to support Greenlanders by raising education level and economic diversification, and to contribute to the capacity of the administration of Greenland to formulate and implement national policies, including in areas related to economic governance, infrastructure development and strategic resource management, while strengthening resilience, self-sufficiency and safeguarding critical infrastructure.’; |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| ‘(a) an OCTs-EU forum for dialogue (the ‘OCTs-EU Forum’), which shall meet every two years to bring together OCTs’ authorities, representatives of the Member States and the Commission. Members of the European Parliament, Representatives of the EIB and representatives of the outermost regions shall, where appropriate, be associated with the OCTs-EU Forum; | ‘(a) an OCTs-EU forum for dialogue (the ‘OCTs-EU Forum’), which shall meet every year to bring together OCTs’ authorities, representatives of the Member States, the Commission and the European Parliament. Representatives of the EIB and representatives of the outermost regions shall, where appropriate, be associated with the OCTs-EU Forum; |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (b) trilateral consultations between the Commission, the OCTs and the Member States to which they are linked, which shall be held on a regular basis. Those consultations shall be organised at least three times a year on the initiative of the Commission or at the request of OCTs and of the Member States to which they are linked. Member States shall be informed about the results of the consultations appropriately;’; | (b) trilateral consultations between the Commission, the OCTs and the Member States to which they are linked, which shall be held on a regular basis. Those consultations shall be organised at least three times a year on the initiative of the Commission or at the request of OCTs and of the Member States to which they are linked. Member States and the European Parliament shall be informed about the results of the consultations appropriately, covering in particular the programming of funding, the resilience of critical infrastructure, maritime security, the surveillance of exclusive economic zones and the regional integration of OCTs;’; |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (e) the sustainable management of natural resources, including raw materials, as well as the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services;; | (e) while ensuring the highest standards of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem integrity, particularly in Arctic environments; |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| (m) the development of regional cooperation in the Arctic, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Pacific.; | (m) the development of regional cooperation in the Arctic, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Pacific, including in the areas of secure connectivity, maritime safety and security, emergency preparedness and disaster response, research and innovation, and the protection of critical infrastructure, as well as by strengthening the Union's presence, its capacity for cooperation with third-country partners and the protection of its strategic interests in those spaces; |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| 1a. In implementing the regional allocation referred to in paragraph 1, priority shall be given to operations that strengthen strategic investments in ports, maritime transport, energy, and digital networks, as well as initiatives that enhance economic security, preparedness, and the integration of OCTs into sustainable regional and global value chains. Such cooperation shall be compatible with the Union's strategic and economic security interests, contribute to the resilience of value chains and shall not create or deepen critical dependencies. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| The amount for the territorial (bilateral) cooperation shall be allocated on the basis of the specificities, needs, development level and performance of the OCTs in accordance with a limited set of specific criteria, taking into account the population, where relevant, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), poverty and inequality, the level of previous allocations, the OCTs’ absorption capacities, exceptional situation and constraints due to the geographical isolation of OCTs as mentioned in Article 9. | The amount for the territorial (bilateral) cooperation shall be allocated on the basis of the specificities, needs, development level and performance of the OCTs in accordance with a limited set of specific criteria, taking into account the population, where relevant, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), poverty and inequality, the level of previous allocations, the OCTs’ absorption capacities, exceptional situation and constraints due to the geographical isolation of OCTs as mentioned in Article 9, as well as their strategic importance for the Union, the size of the maritime zones concerned, their geographic position, their role in maritime security and regional connectivity, and needs relating to the resilience and maintenance of critical infrastructure. |
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
|---|---|
| iii a) direct the support also to responding to strategic, security or sovereignty needs, in particular to reinforce the Union's presence in geopolitically sensitive areas, protect critical infrastructure and support the surveillance and resilience capacities of the OCTs. |
Back matter, 1
Parts that accompany the text rather than belong to it: explanatory statement, annexes, opinions appended by other committees. Collapsed.
Annex: declaration of input 1 block
The rapporteur for opinion declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not include in his opinion input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.
Procedure pages and committee votes
How the committees handled the text and how their members voted on it. Collapsed.
Procedure – committee asked for opinion 1 block
| Title | Amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other | |
| References | COM(2025)0599 – C10-0248/2025 – 2025/0264(CNS) | |
| Committee(s) responsible Date announced in plenary | DEVE 15.12.2025 | |
| Opinion by Date announced in plenary | AFET 15.12.2025 | |
| Rapporteur for opinion Date appointed | Urmas Paet 30.4.2025 | |
| Discussed in committee | 17.3.2026 | |
| Date adopted | 5.5.2026 | |
| Result of final vote | +: –: 0: | 59 10 4 |
Final vote by roll call by the committee asked for opinion 3 blocks
59 · For
- ECR
- Adam Bielan, Alberico Gambino, Rihards Kols, Jaak Madison, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Şerban Dimitrie Sturdza, Claudiu-Richard Târziu, Laurence Trochu
- EPP
- Mika Aaltola, Wouter Beke, Fredis Beleris, Krzysztof Brejza, Sebastião Bugalho, Loucas Fourlas, Michael Gahler, Christophe Gomart, Rasa Juknevičienė, Łukasz Kohut, Ondřej Kolář, Andrey Kovatchev, David McAllister, Francisco José Millán Mon, Davor Ivo Stier, Michał Szczerba, Ingeborg Ter Laak, Riho Terras, Matej Tonin, Loránt Vincze, Isabel Wiseler-Lima
- Patriots
- Julie Rechagneux, Pierre-Romain Thionnet
- Renew
- Petras Auštrevičius, Dan Barna, Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, Bernard Guetta, Ivars Ijabs, Moritz Körner, Marjan Šarec, Hilde Vautmans
- S&D
- Robert Biedroń, Biljana Borzan, Tobias Cremer, Sandra Gómez López, Giorgio Gori, Costas Mavrides, Sven Mikser, Matjaž Nemec, Thijs Reuten, Chloé Ridel, Sandro Ruotolo, Andreas Schieder, Marta Temido, Kathleen Van Brempt, Nicola Zingaretti
- Greens
- Leoluca Orlando, Vladimir Prebilič, Mounir Satouri, Villy Søvndal, Thomas Waitz
10 · Against
- ECR
- Sebastian Tynkkynen
- ESN
- Tomasz Froelich, Alexander Sell, Stanislav Stoyanov
- No group
- Grzegorz Braun, Kostas Papadakis
- Patriots
- Mieke Andriese
- The Left
- Marc Botenga, Danilo Della Valle, Giorgos Georgiou
Connections
The dossier, the decisions on this text and its other versions.
No connections found for this item.
Sources & citation
Where the facts on this page come from, and how to cite it.
- Data source
- Licensed CC BY 4.0.
- Retrieved
- 25 September 2026
Cite as
European Parliament (2026). “OPINION on the Council Decision amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other”. Text, 6 May 2026. docId AFET-AD-785248. EU Parl Watch Research. https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFET-AD-785248 (retrieved 25 September 2026). Data: EP Open Data API: document record, https://data.europarl.europa.eu/api/v2/documents/AFET-AD-785248 (CC BY 4.0).
BibTeX
@misc{epw-text-afet-ad-785248,
author = {{European Parliament}},
title = {{OPINION on the Council Decision amending Decision (EU) 2021/1764 on the Association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the European Union including relations between the European Union on the one hand, and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark on the other}},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-05-06},
howpublished = {\url{https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFET-AD-785248}},
url = {https://news.eu-parl.st-solutions.dev/texts/AFET-AD-785248},
urldate = {2026-09-25},
publisher = {EU Parl Watch Research},
note = {Text. docId AFET-AD-785248. Data: EP Open Data API: document record (CC BY 4.0)}
}