European leaders have grappled for months with the question of how to respond to US President Donald Trump’s quixotic desire to seize Greenland, but in recent days their puzzlement and alarm have only intensified.
Trump’s repeated insistence on the US taking control of Greenland from close ally Denmark has also compounded the chaos inside EU and Nato capitals on how to respond to America over other geopolitical issues — including the US attack on Venezuela and its ambivalent approach to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s a fine line,” said one senior European official. “The solidarity with Denmark is crystal clear for everyone. But then there’s Venezuela where nobody is sorry [Nicolás] Maduro is going, but there are legal questions. And we want to keep the US onside for a dignified outcome in Ukraine.”
A second EU official said, “We know who our allies no longer are. It’s just we are still hoping we are wrong and the problem will go away,” referring to Trump’s disregard for the generation-old transatlantic alliance and the need for Europe to reduce its reliance on Washington. “We know what needs to be done, we just need to bloody do it.”
Support for Denmark and Greenland came quickest from its Nordic and Baltic neighbours with others such as France, Germany and the UK following. But few explicitly denounced the US, and none referred to Trump by name despite the US president again saying “we need Greenland” just hours after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told him to stop issuing threats over the vast Arctic island.
Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, said: ‘‘Only Denmark and Greenland have the right to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said he would “stand” with Frederiksen against Trump’s threat to annex Greenland as he came under pressure from political rivals and his own MPs alike to stand up to the White House.
“Denmark is a close European ally, a close Nato ally, and the future has to be for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, and only for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark,” Starmer told Sky News.
Left to right: Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the 77th session of the Nordic Council in Stockholm, Sweden, in October © Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images
European officials said the military operation to capture Maduro had signalled that Trump felt unencumbered by international law, and his rhetoric regarding Greenland should be taken seriously.
But deep-seated fear over criticising Trump owing to reliance on Washington for support to Ukraine and security guarantees to Europe meant there were significant divisions over how to handle the situation, the officials added.
Frederiksen warned that repeated US ambitions over Greenland could threaten the future of Nato. “If the United States attacks another Nato country, everything stops,” she said on Monday.
Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia’s president, said the “legitimate security needs of [the] US . . . can be addressed in a direct dialogue between Denmark and [the] US”.
The problem for Denmark is that it appears all but impossible.
Danish officials have repeatedly said they are willing to engage with Trump on boosting Arctic security.
Under a 75-year-old defence agreement, the US already has the sole military base on Greenland and local authorities in recent years have been open to it expanding its presence or opening a new one. But the US has reduced its presence on the Arctic island from a cold war peak of more than 10,000 soldiers to fewer than 200 at present.
Greenlandic ministers have also said that their island is “open for business”. But US investors have been slow to show an interest in the nascent mining industry, officials say.
“The only thing they haven’t yet offered is something they can’t ever offer: for Greenland to become part of America,” said one senior EU diplomat. Another added: “They don’t need to annex it. They can have whatever they want. That is what makes it so puzzling.”
Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia’s president, said the ‘legitimate security needs of [the] US . . . can be addressed in a direct dialogue between Denmark and [the] US’ © Gints Ivuskans/AFP/Getty Images
Danish officials say that Trump first tried to browbeat Copenhagen into submission, before then appearing to switch tactic to try to appeal directly to Greenlanders. “What comes after that, though?” asked one. “That is what we are worried about.”
Nato and EU officials pointed to co-ordinated messages of support for Denmark over the past 24 hours from European leaders, arranged by senior diplomats across the continent, as proof that Europe was calibrating its response to meet Trump’s heightened rhetoric.
The Greenland issue is particularly sensitive for Nato and its secretary-general Mark Rutte. Any US military action to take the island would result in two allies in direct conflict, throwing the alliance’s fundamental mutual defence clause into question and probably forcing the other 30 members to pick sides.
Nato officials have continually echoed Trump’s insistence that Greenland is integral to Arctic security and said the alliance can collectively increase its focus on the area in a bid to counter his arguments for annexation.
Officials point to a change in stance from other regional Nato members who are now supportive of the alliance playing a greater role in the Arctic, and the success Canada has had in smothering Trump’s previous rhetoric about making the country part of the US, in part by increasing defence spending.
Trump belittled Denmark’s approach on Sunday, claiming that it had added “one dog sled” to its defence of Greenland. But Copenhagen said in October that it would spend $4.2bn on two military units, a new Arctic Command headquarters, two ships, maritime patrol aircraft, drones and air surveillance radar units, all in Greenland.
Danish troops undertake a military exercise in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, last September © Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters
Trump’s recent comments on Greenland have all emphasised its importance for “security” with several of his advisers saying that the Arctic island, like Venezuela, falls within the concept of “hemispheric defence” as it lies geographically in North America.
But the European Commission on Monday rebuffed comparisons between Venezuela and Greenland.
“Greenland is an ally of the US and is also covered by a Nato alliance and that is a big, big difference,” it said. “We therefore completely stand by Greenland and in no way do we see a possible comparison with what happened [in Venezuela].”
Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London and Paola Tamma in Brussels
