Danish PM reaches out to Trump over Greenland remarks

COPENHAGEN – Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Jan 9 she had reached out to US President-elect Donald Trump

following his remarks about taking control of Greenland

, which Denmark said were being taken seriously.

Trump, who takes office on Jan 20, set off alarm bells on Jan 7 when he refused to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland under US control.

Denmark has said it is open to talks on US interests in the Arctic, but the Prime Minister has insisted that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”.

European leaders have supported the sovereignty of the Arctic island and autonomous Danish territory.

Russia has voiced concern for maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Ms Frederiksen summoned leaders of the parties in Denmark’s Parliament, including Greenland’s two representatives, to a meeting on Jan 9 to brief them on the government’s handling of events.

Few details emerged from the two-hour talks, but she told reporters afterwards that her office had reached out to Trump, though the two had not spoken yet.

“We have proposed a conversation between us. I don’t think anything concrete will happen until the President-elect is installed,” she said.

She reiterated that she did not believe Trump would try to seize Greenland by force, adding: “We have no reason to believe that would happen.”

The head of the right-wing Danish People’s Party, Mr Morten Messerschmidt, told TV2 television after the talks that he was “completely confident that the (Danish) government wants to work closely with the United States... our most important economic and defence political ally”.

But another right-wing populist leader, Ms Inger Stojberg of the Denmark Democrats, said her impression was that the government had “no concrete plan” and appeared “paralysed”.

“I hope the government will be more active towards Trump when he takes office,” she added.

One of the Greenland representatives, Ms Aki-Mathilda Hoegh-Dam, praised Ms Frederiksen for a “good dialogue”.

“I think it’s important to keep a cool head and remember that we have... a good partnership and this doesn’t change that,” she said.

Before the talks, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters that Denmark has “no ambition whatsoever to escalate a war of words with a president on his way into the Oval Office”.

“My own attitude is that you should take Trump very seriously but not necessarily literally. We take it so seriously that we are also working on it,” he added.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni dismissed speculation that the US might use force to take Greenland.

“I feel like I can rule out that the United States in the coming years will try to forcefully annex territories that interest them,” she told a press conference in Rome.

She said Trump’s remarks were “more of a message to... other big global players”.

Rivalry between the US, China and Russia is growing in the Arctic, as ice melts due to climate change and opens new shipping lanes.

Apart from its strategic location, Greenland, which is seeking independence from Denmark, holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, although oil and uranium exploration is banned.

The US has a military base in north-west Greenland.

Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first term as president, an offer swiftly rebuffed by Greenland and Denmark.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted that “borders must not be moved by force. This principle applies to every country, whether in the East or the West”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Jan 9 said Russia is following events “very closely”.

“We are interested in preserving peace and stability in this zone and are ready to cooperate with any parties for this peace and stability,” he added.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede, speaking in Copenhagen on Jan 9, said the territory is “entering a new era, in a new year where Greenland is in the centre of the world”.

In a statement on Jan 8, the government said “Greenland’s development and future are decided solely by its people”.

At the same time, it added that it would continue to cooperate with the US “as one of our closest partners”.

“Greenland has had more than 80 years of defence cooperation with the US for the benefit of the security of Greenland, the US and the rest of the Western world,” it noted. AFP