Danish PM warns US takeover of Greenland could end NATO
Kyiv • UNN
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated that an American takeover of Greenland would mean the end of the NATO military alliance. This was in response to US President Donald Trump's call to transfer the island to US control after a military operation in Venezuela.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that an American takeover of Greenland would mean the end of the NATO military alliance, UNN reports with reference to AP.
Details
Her comments came in response to renewed calls by US President Donald Trump to place the strategically mineral-rich Arctic island under US control after a military operation in Venezuela over the weekend.
The operation by American troops in Caracas to capture leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, carried out early Saturday morning, shocked the world and heightened concerns in Denmark and Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of the Danish kingdom and thus part of NATO.
Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens Frederik Nielsen criticized the president's comments and warned of catastrophic consequences. Numerous European leaders expressed solidarity with them.
PMs of Greenland, Denmark tell Trump to stop US takeover threats05.01.26, 08:27 • 4802 views
"If the United States decides to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything will stop," Frederiksen told Danish TV2 on Monday. "That is, including our NATO, and therefore the security that has been provided since the end of World War II."
Trump has repeatedly called during his presidential transition period and the first months of his second term for US jurisdiction over Greenland and has not ruled out military force to take control of the island. His comments on Sunday, including telling reporters "let's talk about Greenland in 20 days," further deepened fears that the US plans an intervention in Greenland in the near future.
Frederiksen also said that Trump "should be taken seriously" when he says he wants Greenland. "We will not accept a situation where we and Greenland are threatened in such a way," she added.
Nielsen said at a press conference on Monday that Greenland cannot be compared to Venezuela. He urged his constituents to remain calm and united.
"We are not in a situation where we think a country can be taken over overnight, and that is why we insist that we want good cooperation," he said.
Nielsen added: "The situation is not such that the United States can simply take over Greenland."
Ask Rostrup, a political journalist for TV2, wrote in the station's live blog on Monday that Mette would have previously categorically rejected the idea of an American takeover of Greenland. But now, Rostrup writes, the rhetoric has escalated so much that she is forced to acknowledge such a possibility.
On Sunday, Trump also mocked Denmark's efforts to strengthen Greenland's national security, saying that the Danes had added "another dog sled" to the Arctic territory's arsenal.
"It's so strategically important now," Trump told reporters on Sunday, returning to Washington from his home in Florida. "Greenland is covered everywhere with Russian and Chinese ships."
He added: "We need Greenland from a national security perspective, and Denmark won't be able to do it."
Trump said the US "needs Greenland for defense"04.01.26, 21:24 • 7144 views
But Ulrik Pram Gad, a global security expert at the Danish Institute for International Studies, wrote in a report last year that "there are indeed Russian and Chinese ships in the Arctic, but these vessels are too far away to be seen from Greenland with or without binoculars."
This week, Greenlanders and Danes were further outraged by a social media post, after the raid, by former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post featured an illustrated map of Greenland in stars and stripes colors with the caption: "Coming Soon."
"And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," said Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy in Washington, in a response to Miller, who is married to influential Trump deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Addition
The US Department of Defense operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland. It was built under a 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. It supports missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.
In mainland Denmark, the partnership between the US and Denmark has been long-standing. Danes are buying American F-35 fighter jets, and just last year, the Danish parliament approved a bill allowing US military bases to be stationed on Danish soil.
Critics say the vote ceded Denmark's sovereignty to the US. The legislation expands a previous military agreement reached in 2023 with the Biden administration, under which US forces had broad access to Danish airbases in the Nordic country.