“That’s enough.” Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen thus reacted to US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to annex the Arctic island. “No more pressure. Enough allusions. Enough annexation fantasies. We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussion. But all this must happen through appropriate channels and in compliance with international law“, the head of the Greenlandic government wrote on Facebook.
Trump reiterated his position when meeting with reporters aboard Air Force One. “We need Greenland to safeguard national security. It is very strategic”, said the US president, maintaining that “the European Union also needs us to possess Greenland”.
The American president added that ”right now Greenland is surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships everywhere” and that ”Denmark will not be able” to manage this situation. Denmark, Trump joked, increased Greenland’s security by ”adding another dog sled”.
“Trump has made many statements, let’s see what his real intentions will be…”, said the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajaniguest of Rtl 102.5, answering a question about Trump’s aims on Greenland. “The EU must take its position and guarantee the independence of a territory that is part of Denmark.”
The EU position
The EU for its part has made it known that “it will continue to support the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders, as well as the UN Charter. These are universal principles and we will not stop defending them, even more so if the territorial integrity of an EU member state is called into question”. This was stated by European Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper during the daily press briefing. “Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and any changes to the statute are up to the Greenlanders and Danes alone“Hipper reiterated.
To a question on whether the EU should treat US President Donald Trump’s threats regarding the annexation of Danish territory after the military operation in Venezuela differently, the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, Paula Pinho, replied: “We remember that Greenland is an ally of the USA and is also covered by the NATO Alliance. This is a fundamental difference.” “Therefore, we fully support Greenland and do not see in any way a possible comparison with what happened,” he explained.
Regarding Trump’s statements that the EU needs the US to take over Greenland, “and they know it”, a spokeswoman for the European Commission commented: “We have listened to those statements. I am not aware of any discussions with the US by our representatives on this issue.”
“Greenland has its autonomy and, of course, each country can be very interesting from many points of view, but this should not trigger any interest beyond, for example, commercial interest, investment, etc. Nothing beyond that,” the spokeswoman reiterated.