\n
![](\"https:\/\/en.hamsonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/5354824.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday said she had received support from European leaders as she sought backing to counter US President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.<\/p>\n
Frederiksen and NATO chief Rutte agreed that allies need to focus on strengthening defences in the Arctic, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters.<\/p>\n
“They agreed that in this effort all allies have a role to play,” the source said after the meeting.<\/p>\n
After an initial stopover in Berlin, Frederiksen was in Paris by midday for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, after which she told reporters she had received “a great deal of support”.<\/p>\n
“This is a very, very clear message … that of course there must be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states,” Frederiksen said.<\/p>\n
“This is a crucial part of the international community, the international community that we have built together since World War II,” she added.<\/p>\n
Trump has signaled that he wants the Arctic island \u2013 which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves \u2013 to become part of the United States.<\/p>\n
He has talked for years about a possible deal to take control of the Danish autonomous territory.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Trump told reporters he believed that the United States would “get Greenland”, which is located between the United States and Europe in a region of increasing strategic value as the melting of Arctic sea ice opens up new shipping routes.<\/p>\n
Trump argues his country needs Greenland for “international security”.<\/p>\n
But Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Tuesday retorted that “Trump will not have Greenland.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Greenland is Greenland. And the Greenlandic people are a people, also in the sense of international law,” Lokke told reporters.<\/p>\n
Frederiksen met early on Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. After speaking about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Scholz stressed that “borders must not be moved by force” and added the English-language phrase: “To whom it may concern.”<\/p>\n
The chancellor said “the times we live in are challenging” and require a strong Europe and NATO. He stressed that “Denmark and Germany are strong partners and close friends.”<\/p>\n
‘Gravity of the situation’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Tuesday’s visits followed a weekend Nordic summit where leaders all “shared the gravity of the situation”, Frederiksen said.<\/p>\n Denmark on Monday announced that it would spend 14.6 billion kroner ($2 billion) to bolster security in the Arctic.<\/p>\n It said it would send three new frigates to the region, as well as long-distance drones equipped with advanced imaging capabilities. It would also reinforce its satellite capabilities.<\/p>\n Officials in Greenland, which depends heavily on Denmark for subsidies, have long been pushing for independence but have said they are open to doing business with the US.<\/p>\n A day after Trump was sworn in as president, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted that Greenlanders “don’t want to be American”.<\/p>\n In mid-January, Frederiksen reportedly spoke to Trump by telephone, stressing that it was up to Greenland to determine its future.<\/p>\n According to European sources\u00a0cited by the Financial Times, Danish officials described the conversation as “horrendous” and said that Trump’s interest in Greenland was “serious, and potentially very dangerous”.<\/p>\n The US president, who has not excluded a possible military intervention to annex the island, reportedly threatened Denmark with tariffs over the issue.<\/p>\n The United States is the small Scandinavian country’s main export market.<\/p>\n ‘Worrying time’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Greenland’s trade and justice minister Naaja Nathanielsen on Monday told AFP that the Greenlandic people were living through a “worrying time” and were “concerned” about Trump’s statements.<\/p>\n “As a government, our job is not to panic and to figure out what the actual demands are,” Nathanielsen said.<\/p>\n “If it is about military presence, the US has been here for 80 years, we are not opposed to that. If it is about the minerals, it is an open market,” she said.<\/p>\n But, she warned, “if it is about expansionism, we are a democracy, we are allies and we ask our allies to respect our institutions.”<\/p>\n The European Union’s top military official on Saturday said that troops from EU countries could be based in Greenland.<\/p>\n “In my view, it would make perfect sense not only to station US forces in Greenland, as is currently the case, but also to consider stationing EU soldiers there,” Robert Brieger, chairman of the European Union Military Committee told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.<\/p>\n France’s Foreign Minister Jean-No\u00ebl Barrot did not rule out the possibility of European troops in Greenland.<\/p>\n “Why not, since it is a matter of security,” Barrot told Sud Radio on Tuesday.<\/p>\n He stressed, however, that “that is not the wish expressed by Denmark, but it is a possibility”.<\/p>\n