[Ryewolf90]

Some sobering thoughts on how long we could be tied up with negotiations to leave the EU based on one of the last countries to leave the then EEC.

Greenland joined the then European Community in 1973 as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, after gaining autonomy in 1979 Greenland voted to leave the EEC in 1982, but it took until 1985 until negotiations were completed, following more than 100 meetings with EU officials.

“The negotiations were a surprisingly unpleasant job,” Lars Vesterbirk, Greenland's former representative to the EU who led the negotiations, told POLITICO. “The EU member states would not take us seriously because they were not willing to accept that you should or could leave.”

“At the time, you could become a member of the EU but you couldn’t leave,” Vesterbirk said.