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2025-01-28 18:58:00
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen visited three European capitals on Tuesday, days after US President Donald Trump reiterated his curiosity in buying Greenland.
Over the house of a day, Frederiksen met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and Nato chief Mark Rutte in Brussels.
Though the leaders have been stated to have mentioned points together with Ukraine and hybrid Russian assaults within the Baltic Sea, the Danish PM’s whirlwind journey betrayed the nervousness felt in Denmark over Trump’s repeated feedback.
The Arctic island of Greenland is an autonomous Danish dependent territory.
Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly signalled that he desires the US to accumulate it for nationwide safety causes – and refused to rule out utilizing army or financial pressure to take action. “I believe we’ll have it,” he stated on Saturday.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede – who has pushed for independence from Denmark – insisted final week that Greenlanders “do not need to be American”.
At a information convention held by Frederiksen and Scholz after their assembly on Tuesday morning, neither chief straight talked about Greenland or Trump.
However when discussing the necessity to respect borders and never violate them by pressure, as Russia did in Ukraine, Scholz emphasised that the idea utilized to “everybody” and added, in English: “To whom it could concern.”
In Paris, Frederiksen instructed reporters she had acquired “quite a lot of help” from her European allies and that there was a “very, very clear message… that after all there have to be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states.”
And through her remaining cease in Brussels, Frederiksen stated that she had “no purpose to consider that there’s any army risk to Greenland or Denmark”.
She reiterated that she nonetheless sees the US as Denmark’s closest ally, however when requested concerning the relationship between Europe and Trump, she replied: “I believe everybody in Europe can see that it is going to be a unique collaboration now.”
Frederiksen and Rutte agreed that allies wanted to give attention to strengthening defences within the Arctic, Reuters reported quoting a supply.
Whereas Frederiksen prevented mentioning the Greenland subject straight, her international minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, instructed reporters that Trump would “not have Greenland”.
“The Greenlandic persons are a folks, additionally within the sense of worldwide legislation,” Lokke stated.
When requested whether or not Trump would wish to “invade” Greenland to get it, Lokke stated that he wouldn’t give directions for a way Trump ought to “get one thing that he mustn’t have”, Danish media reported.
In a press launch issued earlier this week, the international ministry stated Lokke had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the 2 had determined to debate Arctic safety between the US, Denmark and Greenland at a later date.
Danish opposition MP Rasmus Jarlov instructed the BBC that he thought “all People have heard Denmark say no. However apparently lots of people within the US suppose that the Greenlanders need to be People – or that they are often purchased to conform to it.”
He added: “Many Greenlanders dream of independence from Denmark. But when that occurs, it’s not with an intention of changing into People after independence… It’s going to by no means be American.”
On Monday, Denmark stated it might spend 14.6bn kroner (£1.6bn; $2.05bn) to spice up safety within the Arctic area, in partnership with Greenland and the Faroe Islands, its different autonomous territory.
