This is Europe’s new US line after the Greenland crisis

On Thursday, the prime ministers of the EU countries were supposed to gather for an emergency meeting on Greenland in Brussels. On Wednesday, the President of the United States Donald Trump however, announced that he would withdraw the threats of tariffs from eight European countries regarding Greenland, as a preliminary agreement had been reached on Greenland. As a result, the emergency meeting changed its format to a discussion between the leaders of the EU countries on the relations between the Union and the United States.

High representative of the EU’s foreign and security policy Kaja Kalla said that the relationship between Europe and the United States took a hard hit during the past week. According to him, disputes between allies only help Russia.

Also the Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) admitted after the informal EU summit that ended at night that the pressure exerted by the United States on its allies has left its mark on the EU. According to Orpo, how deep the mark is can only be assessed later.

Orpo reminded that it is not possible to act between allies by pressuring or demanding the annexation of territories of independent countries.

“Also, that (Trump’s) use of language in relation to Europe, yes, it is quite widely taken into account,” Orpo said.

He described the atmosphere of the EU meeting as “invigorated” because Denmark and Greenland have stood united in support and it produced results.

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán disagreed. According to him, the honor does not belong to the EU, but to NATO and the Secretary General Mark Ruttellewhich turned Trump’s head in Davos.

Four points

President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen after the meeting, staked the EU’s four-point line to the more unpredictable United States after the Greenland crisis.

“Unambiguous solidarity towards Denmark and Greenland.”

“Support for the six member countries that Trump has threatened with tariffs.”

Meeting the United States “firmly, but without escalating”.

In addition, the EU will keep trade countermeasures and non-tariff-based pressure tools on the table in case Trump still carries out his tariff threats, von der Leyen said.

EU acquiescence

Despite the strict line and the empowerment of the EU leaders, it seems that the EU has once again started a concession line to the United States, at least partially.

One sign of this is that the Speaker of the EU Parliament Roberta Metsola announced on Thursday that the parliament will indeed vote on the ratification of the trade agreement between the EU and the United States, even though it decided on Wednesday to freeze the processing of the agreement process after Trump’s customs and Greenland threats.

The fact that Orpo and other Nordic prime ministers’ trip to Greenland scheduled for Friday was also canceled at Denmark’s request is also a sign of concession.

Problems to the negotiation table

According to Orpo, the EU does not think that the Greenland issue has now been permanently resolved, even though the acute crisis was resolved and brought to the negotiating table.

Regarding the Greenland agreement, we are now proceeding on two tracks: one is the NATO line, where preparations are being made to strengthen Arctic security, and on the other track, Denmark, Greenland and the United States are conducting negotiations, in which the EU is “strongly supportive”, according to Orpo.

Orpo did not agree to tell about the content of the actual Greenland agreement.

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen said in Brussels that Denmark has an absolute limit on future US cooperation in Greenland.

According to Frederiksen, Denmark and Greenland are ready for further negotiations with the United States, but the limit is that the United States cannot gain control over even military base areas from Greenland.

“Danish sovereignty cannot be discussed and cannot be changed,” Frederiksen said.

The fate of trade agreements

Many EU leaders – including Orpo – emphasized that Europe must become more independent from the United States both in the economy and in defense.

Regarding economic independence, there was already time in Brussels to celebrate the approval of the Mercosur agreement, which creates the world’s largest free trade area, until the EU Parliament decided on Wednesday to send the agreement to the EU Court of Justice for examination.

The decision can postpone the approval of the contract for up to two years. In principle, however, the Commission has the possibility to enforce the trade part of the agreement regardless of court proceedings, if the majority of the member states support it.

Commission President von der Leyen said on Thursday that the member countries have a “clear interest” in the quick implementation of the Mercosur agreement.

“Several leaders tonight raised the question of the provisional application of the agreement,” von der Leyen said, adding that he thought it would be important to promote the benefits of the trade agreement as quickly as possible.

Regarding the trade agreement between the EU and the United States, the president of the commission emphasized that the EU expects the United States to respect its own share of the package agreed last summer.

“A deal is a deal,” von der Leyen said.

In order to keep its own promise, the EU still needs to complete the process of removing tariffs on US industrial products and lobster, which is expected to happen as soon as Monday next week.