portrait – Propelled to the forefront of the international scene in the face of Donald Trump, Jens-Frederik Nielsen is only 34 years old. But who is this young Prime Minister of Greenland?
This Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron received at the Élysée the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. There was another guest, recently put in the international spotlight: Jens-Frederik Nielsen, 34 years old, fresh Prime Minister of Greenland.
The objective was to reaffirm “European solidarity” and French support for the sovereignty of Denmark and its immense Arctic territory. A visit which comes after weeks of tension caused by Donald Trump and his ambition to buy back the island. Just a few months after the start of his mandate, the young leader had to assert himself in the face of pressure from the White House. Greenland is “not for sale, it will never be American,” he repeated. But who are you really, Jens-Frederik Nielsen?
Bullied at school because “different”
Jens-Frederik Nielsen is at the head of this island which has 57,000 inhabitants. Born in Nuuk, the capital, he is the child of a Greenlandic Inuit mother and a Danish father, notes France Info. He therefore embodies a Greenland torn between the desire for independence and the desire to maintain good relations with Denmark. But long before all that, he was a bullied young boy.
His childhood was indeed not easy. According to the Weekendavisen, relayed by Le Figaro, it all started in the schoolyard in Nuuk, where his skin and light hair marked him as “different”. “I was harassed because I looked Danish. It’s a form of racism,” he told the newspaper. (…)
Also read:
Greenland: “Enough is enough now”… The Prime Minister furious after Trump’s new threats
Greenland: “We don’t want to be Americans”… Parties in the Danish territory respond to Trump’s threats
