US takeover of Greenland would end NATO, warns Denmark PM after Trump remarks
Mette Frederiksen says any American military move against Greenland, a NATO territory, would collapse the alliance as fears grow over Trump’s renewed push for control of the Arctic island
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday (January 5) said that an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Her comments came in response to US President Donald Trump's renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under US control in the aftermath of the weekend military operation in Venezuela.
Also read | 'Enough now': Greenland PM hits back at Trump over annexation threats
The dead-of-night operation by US forces in Caracas to capture leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife early Saturday left the world stunned, and heightened concerns in Denmark and Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of the Danish kingdom and thus part of NATO.
Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens Frederik Nielsen, blasted the president's comments and warned of catastrophic consequences. Numerous European leaders expressed solidarity with them.
“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday. “That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”
20-day timeline deepens fears
Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early 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 was planning an intervention in Greenland in the near future.
Frederiksen also said Trump “should be taken seriously” when he says he wants Greenland. “We will not accept a situation where we and Greenland are threatened in this way,” she added.
Also read | Denmark PM urges Trump to stop the ‘threats’ to take over Greenland
Nielsen, in a news conference on Monday, said Greenland cannot be compared to Venezuela. He urged his constituents to stay calm and united. “We are not in a situation where we think that there might be a takeover of the country overnight and that is why we are insisting that we want good cooperation,” he said.
Nielsen added: “The situation is not such that the United States can simply conquer Greenland.” Ask Rostrup, a TV2 political journalist, wrote on the station's live blog on Monday that Mette previously would have flatly rejected the idea of an American takeover of Greenland. But now, Rostrup wrote, the rhetoric has escalated so much that she has to acknowledge the possibility.
(With agency inputs)