London: European leaders have joined forces to warn US President Donald Trump to drop his talk of taking over Greenland after his intervention in Venezuela, heightening a clash at the heart of the NATO alliance that is meant to safeguard their combined security.
A statement issued overnight from seven major leaders declared that only the people of Greenland and Denmark could decide the fate of the Arctic territory, a declaration backed soon afterwards by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and Denmark said, after days of growing concern at Trump’s public claims that he wanted control of Greenland for security reasons.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted leaders in Paris on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) for talks on the future of Ukraine, joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
While those talks canvassed ways to defend Ukraine’s borders in the event of a ceasefire with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the leaders’ concerns over Greenland have highlighted the differences with Trump over security in Europe.
While Greenland is a self-governing territory with a parliament and a premier, it is also part of the Kingdom of Denmark and subject to a defence agreement between Denmark and the US from 1951 that gives the US broad discretion to build and operate military bases.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that an American move to gain control of Greenland by force would mean the end of NATO, given that both nations are signatories to the security treaty.
“If the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War,” she told Danish broadcaster TV2.
Frederiksen signed the statement along with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Macron.
“NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European allies are stepping up,” the seven leaders said.
“We and many other allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries. The Kingdom of Denmark – including Greenland – is part of NATO.
“Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.
“These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.”
Carney, who flew into Paris for the meeting on Ukraine, echoed the European message.
“The future of Greenland is a decision exclusively for the people of Greenland and Denmark,” Carney told reporters.
Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic on the weekend that Greenland was “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships” and would be needed for US security.
“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he said. “We need it for defence.”
He did not say the US would take the territory by force, although he has refused to rule this out in the past, and he did not threaten an imminent move to seek American control.
The US operates a major air base and missile defence facility in the far north of Greenland under its 1951 treaty with Denmark, raising questions among experts about why the US would need to take full control.
While there are mineral resources in Greenland, these would be costly to extract because of the sub-zero conditions and some projects have proceeded under the existing governance of the territory.
Arctic Frontiers, an independent group based in Norway, noted the swift response from Nordic countries defending Denmark and Greenland against the US president’s claims.
“The Nordics stand as a united front in response to the recent US comments about Greenland,” group executive director Anu Fredrikson said in a statement to this masthead.
“In addition, we also see that the language used by the Danish government is more direct and less patient than previously.
“Moving away from multilateral collaboration can have dire consequences. Security guarantees formed the foundation of NATO deterrence. What happens to the perception of security guarantees when one ally threatens another?”
Get a note direct from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
