Denmark’s leader isn’t sure how long America will be an ally
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Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called for dramatic steps to bolster the continent’s independence from the US.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
BERLIN – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, who remains locked in a struggle with US President Donald Trump over the future of Greenland,
“I don’t know what will happen in the US,” Ms Frederiksen said during an hour-long question and answer session, in an auditorium that the Danish Embassy in Berlin shares with other Nordic missions. “I’m not responsible for what will happen in the US I hope that they will stay in our alliance, but I don’t know what will happen.”
She said the events of the past few weeks – in which Mr Trump mused about using economic or military force to take ownership of Greenland from Denmark, then abruptly announced a “framework” agreement over the island with the secretary-general of NATO – showed that “the old world order is now gone”.
Her comments came as Europe continued to debate how to respond to provocations over Greenland from the US, which provided military guarantees to Europe during the Cold War and its aftermath.
On Jan 27, Ms Frederiksen was asked repeatedly whether the issue had driven wedges between European partners, including questions of whether Europe should be collectively more concerned with shoring up American support for Ukraine than warding off American designs on Greenland.
Ms Frederiksen praised European unity but called for dramatic steps to bolster the continent’s independence from the US. European countries, she said, need to rapidly increase military spending and take full responsibility for their own defence, ideally by 2030 – an extraordinarily ambitious timeline by the standards of even the most hawkish European security experts.
She did not cast Mr Trump or the US as adversaries, but she said the US had put Denmark in an “awkward and difficult situation” over Greenland, a Danish territory that Mr Trump has repeatedly said he wants the US to own.
“I’m trans-Atlantic in my heart,” she said, “so I feel a bit sad about how things are developing.” NYTIMES
