Greenland’s parliament, the Inatsisartut, voted Tuesday to approve a security agreement with Denmark and the United States that opens the way for new U.S. defense sites on the Arctic island. The deal was the result of months of negotiations that followed President Donald Trump’s push for U.S. control of the self-governing Danish territory.

Lawmakers in the capital, Nuuk, passed the agreement 16-0, with seven abstentions. The Danish broadcaster DR reported the result at 2:36 p.m. Tuesday, Nuuk time (10:36 a.m. CST). The agreement now goes to Denmark’s parliament, the Folketing, which is scheduled to vote on Nov. 19.

A divided chamber votes without opposition

No lawmaker voted against the agreement. DR reported that five of the parliament’s six parties voted in favor and that the opposition party Naleraq, which won nearly a quarter of the vote in Greenland’s last election, chose to abstain.

The session began in disarray, according to DR. The government accused Naleraq of breaching confidentiality by referring in the debate to information from a closed committee meeting, which Naleraq denied. The parliament’s leadership then filed an official police report against the party based on the minister’s criticism, DR reported, and Naleraq responded with a no-confidence motion against Foreign Minister Múte B. Egede, who had made the accusation from the podium. DR reported that Naleraq chair Pele Broberg said he could vote for the agreement if Egede stepped down.

Broberg also questioned what Greenland gains from the deal. “We are looking for a better agreement that we can benefit from when we become an independent state. But no economic benefit has been gained from the agreement,” he said, according to DW.

Greenland’s leaders welcome the vote

Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on Facebook after the vote that Greenlanders had stood united despite geopolitical tensions to show the world that the island decides its own fate, the Associated Press reported. “We must be able to cooperate with other countries,” he wrote, adding that such cooperation must respect “our people, our country and our rights.” “Greenland is our country. Greenland will always be our country,” he wrote.

Egede told DR he was “glad” and “relieved.” “It has been a long road,” he said. “Now we are only waiting for the Danish ratification process to be completed. And we are simply looking forward to getting started on the work.”

Shortly before the vote, Egede told lawmakers, “We must accept that peace and stability are no longer something we can take for granted,” according to DW.

What the agreement contains

Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Nielsen signed the agreement on Sept. 22 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Under its terms, published by the Danish Foreign Ministry, the United States may modernize and enlarge Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland and establish new defense areas at Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland and Mestersvig in the northeast, Euronews reported. The text grants U.S. forces “free access to and movement between” defense areas, “including the Territorial Waters, by land, air and sea,” and allows U.S. aircraft to fly over and land in Greenland.

Greenland remains under Danish control, and the agreement would continue to apply if the island chooses independence, according to AP. DW reported that the deal also makes room for Trump’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system and reaffirms Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.

Trump has described the deal as giving the United States “permanent control” over Greenland’s security, saying no U.S. adversary could have a base, military presence or sensitive investment on the island without U.S. written approval, The Statesman reported. Danish and Greenlandic leaders have said the agreement does not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty.

The United States already operates in Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Pituffik is its only remaining base there, according to DW. Because the new deal builds on that agreement, the Trump administration is treating it as an executive agreement that does not require Senate approval, DR reported.

Trump’s push for Greenland

In January, Trump began calling for U.S. control of Greenland and threatened the use of military force and tariffs against European allies if he did not get his way, DW reported. He said Denmark was not doing enough to protect the territory from China and Russia.

Tensions eased on Jan. 21, after Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced a “concept of a deal” on expanded U.S. defense access to Greenland at the World Economic Forum in Davos, according to DW. That framework later became the agreement signed in September. Denmark had said it was open to an expanded U.S. military presence while rejecting the idea that Greenland become U.S. territory.

Opinion polls showed most of Greenland’s roughly 57,000 residents opposed U.S. control, Al Jazeera reported.

Next step in Copenhagen

The agreement enters into force only once “the necessary parliamentary processes of the Kingdom of Denmark, in conjunction with Greenland, have been completed,” according to its text. It takes effect when the United States is notified that both parliaments have approved it, DR reported.

The Folketing will begin its review on Nov. 12 and is scheduled to vote on Nov. 19 in Copenhagen.