Despite weeks of campaigning about Britain leaving the European Union, both sides have overlooked that one country has left the European community.
Greenland also held a leave\remain referendum in 1982 to decide the issue, with the leave vote winning.
The country had joined the then European Economic Community in 1973 as a territory of Denmark.
The government won autonomy in 1979 and started negotiations for a better deal from the community straight away that led to the referendum three years later.
The main issue for Greenland was the impact of European laws on the country’s fishing industry.
Why did Brexit campaigners ignore Greenland?
It’s easy to see why the remain campaign has ignored the Greenland example during the run-up to the Brexit referendum.
Since leaving Europe, the Greenland government negotiated an associated country status with the EU.
The negotiations took three years and the country formally left Europe in 1985.
Now, Greenland is paid grants from the EU towards education and developing the fishing industry. Meanwhile, fisherman still have free access to the single market in return for letting EU boats fish their waters.
The government has to comply with EU rules and has no voice in the legal process at Brussels.
Even though the fishing industry is thriving, some local politicians are pushing for Greenland to rejoin the EU so trade can be expanded into other markets and attract more investment.
Greenland is a vastly different case from the UK.
UK is only leaver to have referendum
With a population of only 56,000 and just the single major industry, negotiating an exit was comparatively easy but still took three years.
Britain has a population of more than 56 million and a complicated economic profile across dozens of sectors.
The only other withdrawals from Europe were under different circumstances:
- Algeria was also part of the original common market as a French overseas territory, but left in 1962 when gaining independence
- Saint Barthelemy also left in 2007 when separating from Guadeloupe, a French overseas department. The local government argued EU laws were restrictive due to the economy relying on tourism rather than industry and the impractical distance of the islands from Europe
Several political parties across Europe have advocated leaving the EU, but Britain remains the only member state to have a referendum on the issue.
