This is What Austria Says About Trump's Threats to Greenland

At the same time, it was said that a question about the obligation to assist in the EU Treaty is "purely hypothetical".

"Respect Greenland's Sovereignty"

The Foreign Ministry commented after EU Foreign Affairs Representative Kaja Kallas had also joined the discussion. "We must respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greenland," said the former Estonian Prime Minister on Thursday in Brussels. "Greenland is a part of Denmark," stressed the EU's chief diplomat, referring to the Nordic Union member.

Kallas reported that she had spoken with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. She assured her that the relationship between Denmark and the USA was good. The Social Democratic Prime Minister convened a meeting with the leaders of the Danish parliamentary parties on Thursday evening. The "measures" that the Danish government had taken in recent days were also to be explained.

The Foreign Minister of the former EU member Great Britain, David Lammy, tried to downplay Trump's statements. "This will not happen," he said on Thursday in a BBC interview about the threats of the future US President to incorporate Greenland by military force. Since the founding of NATO, there has been no war between members of the military alliance, Lammy said. He was confident that Trump would ultimately recognize Greenland's affiliation with the Danish kingdom.

Warning from British Foreign Minister

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who recently met Trump at his private residence Mar-a-Lago, also spoke reassuringly. "I believe I can rule out that the United States will try to forcibly annex territories of interest to them in the next few years," she told reporters. Trump's remarks were "more a message to other global actors".

Lammy also suggested that Trump's interest in the huge island in the North Atlantic was about national economic security and the role of Russia and China in the Arctic. Nevertheless, he warned of the negative consequences of Trump's statements. "We know from Donald Trump's first term that the intensity of his rhetoric and the occasional unpredictability of his statements can be destabilizing."

Kremlin Spokesperson Suggests a Poll

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Trump's statements about Greenland as a "quite dramatic development" and emphasized that the Arctic is also a "zone of strategic interest" for Russia. "We want peace and stability in the Arctic," Peskov stressed. He considered the European reaction to be weak. "Europe is reacting very timidly and is naturally afraid to respond to Trump's words, so Europe is reacting very cautiously, modestly, quietly, almost whispering."

The Kremlin spokesperson suggested polling the population of Greenland about which country they would like to belong to, referring to the regions in Eastern Ukraine declared annexed by Russia in 2022, where Moscow had held internationally criticized sham referendums. He demanded that the same "respect" should be shown to the opinion of the Greenlanders. Western countries and Ukraine consider the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions to be illegal.

Meanwhile, Swiss opposition politician Sanija Ameti suggested the Confederation as a mediator for Greenland's independence as a European country. "Greenland has extraordinary geopolitical significance. Its independence and potential integration into Europe would be essential for our continent," wrote the chairwoman of the Green Liberals on X. Switzerland would be "ideal as a mediator" in this regard.

Trump Had Already Considered a Purchase

Trump will be inaugurated on January 20. But even now, he is causing unrest with territorial expansion ideas among allied states such as Canada, which he could imagine as the 51st US state. Regarding Greenland, he stated that control over the largely autonomously governed island would be essential for the USA for reasons of national security. To achieve this, he has not ruled out military or economic pressure. Already during his first term in office, he expressed interest in Greenland in 2019. At that time, he was considering buying the island.

Greenland was colonized by Denmark in the 18th century and has had autonomous status since 1979. The territory is rich in natural resources. These include oil, gas, gold, diamonds, uranium, zinc, and lead. Trump's considerations are likely to also include the strategic location of the island, which geographically belongs to North America and already has a US military base. With an area of two million square kilometers, Greenland is almost half the size of the entire European Union, with which it has only been associated since a withdrawal referendum in 1982 - similar to some French and Dutch territories in the North Atlantic, the Caribbean, and Oceania.

Lammy also rejected Trump's statements about increasing NATO defense spending to five percent of economic output. "Before we talk about where we're going, we need to clarify that the United States spends 3.38 percent of its gross domestic product on defense," Lammy said in a BBC interview. Trump must first present a plan on how the USA wanted to reach the five percent. Currently, the goal in the North Atlantic Alliance is to spend at least two percent of gross domestic product on defense.

(APA/Red)

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