“There were many other threats that did not materialize”. With that phrase, the European Commission has downplayed Donald Trump’s idea of taking control of Greenland, an autonomous territory that is now part of Denmark, a member country of the EU. “We do not see it necessary to go further with that comment”said the spokesperson for the Community Executive, Paula Pinho, in Brussels this Wednesday at a press conference. Of course, the Commission insists that Greenland’s sovereignty is “a key diplomatic value” for the bloc.
And this Tuesday, Trump did not rule out resorting to economic or military coercion to take control. with control of the territory, which he considers “key to American security”. This lukewarmness from Brussels contrasts with the harshness issued by France, which has warned the president-elect of the United States that he cannot “threaten the sovereign borders of the EU”, because although the largest island in the world is not part of the community bloc, if it is part of a Member State.
These words from the French Foreign Minister, Jean Noel Barrot, join those of the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, who stressed that Greenland “is not for sale” and that its future “can only be decided by the citizens” of the island. At the same time, the Commission still does not want to advance events. “We hope to have a strong transatlantic agenda with the next United States Administration for issues of mutual interest,” they conclude.
However, the question remains as to what would happen if the US attacked Greenland with its Army. What would the EU do? In principle, it could not resort to article 42.7 of the Treaty, which requires military assistance to a partner of the bloc, in this case Denmark, because Greenland is not actually part of the Union. Of course, we could act with other measures such as sanctions or tariffs, according to some experts consulted by 20minutes.
However, from Brussels they are clear that Greenland remains “under the diplomatic protection of the EU”, although de facto it is not a territory of the bloc. For the Commission, the aforementioned article “does apply” to the territory, but at the moment they do not want to go that far. “Let’s lower the issue here. We are talking about something hypothetical on the part of an administration that has not yet taken office.“said the Commerce spokesperson, Olof Gill.
These Trump plans on the island are not new, Well, he already warned in 2019 and 2021 that they were an option: In fact, Greenland is a key point for the geopolitical future, and already has a presence not only of the EU or the US, but also of China. The Arctic is the future. Greenland has one of the largest deposits of rare earths in the world. These are essential in the production of batteries for electric cars, computers, screens, televisions or mobile phones. That is to say, a capital sector after all also for the strategic autonomy of the Union.
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