After conferences with Rubio and Vance: How Greenland now desires to attempt to resolve the battle with the USA with a working group | EUROtoday

The visitors from Greenland and Denmark had been on their approach to their assembly with US authorities leaders on Wednesday morning Eastern time when Donald Trump turned up the temperature considerably. “The United States needs Greenland for national security reasons,” the US president introduced on his Truth Social platform.

He threatened his NATO companions in the identical breath. If these “do not pave the way” for this, Washington might withdraw from the alliance. Militarily talking, NATO “would not be an effective force or deterrent without the enormous power of the United States.” On the opposite hand, a US-based Greenland would make the alliance “much more powerful and effective”.

The incontrovertible fact that the US President despatched his deputy JD Vance to the assembly additionally elevated the strain. Originally, Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen had been solely supposed to satisfy their counterpart Marco Rubio.

After the assembly, Rasmussen needed to admit that there had been no rapprochement in the course of the closed-door dialog. “We have not succeeded in changing the American position. There is a fundamental difference of opinion,” stated the Dane. “It is clear that the president has a desire to conquer Greenland. We have made it very clear that this is not in the kingdom’s interest.”

Rasmussen and Motzfeldt additionally emphasised that it had been agreed to arrange a high-level working group. This is anticipated to satisfy inside a couple of weeks and discover choices for collectively increasing Greenland’s safety. “We have been pushing for a stronger common roadmap for Greenland within NATO for a long time, and we are ready to move forward,” stated Rasmussen.

Working group ought to give attention to long-term safety

The discussions should focus comprehensively on the long-term safety of the area. Trump’s argument that Arctic defenses have to be ramped up given Russia and China’s rising curiosity within the polar area is suitable. Motzfeldt defined that cooperation with the USA might be strengthened. This signifies that their settlement with Rubio and Vance might be seen as an try to show the messy state of affairs right into a constructive one. “But that doesn’t mean that the USA can buy us,” added the Greenlander.

It was clear from the selection of phrases and gestures of the 2 high diplomats that they didn’t wish to put up with Trump and his crew’s makes an attempt at intimidation. “Denmark has already increased its spending on military capabilities. Not on dog sleds, but on ships, drones and fighter jets. And we are ready to do even more.” What was a transparent retaliation for Trump’s assertion that morning that Denmark’s protection “consists of two dog sleds.”

Rasmussen additionally reminded Trump that his nation is without doubt one of the oldest allies of the United States and that it misplaced the identical variety of troopers relative to its inhabitants within the conflict in Afghanistan alongside the United States. The future shouldn’t be all the time decided by the previous. But you will need to take the previous under consideration.

The state of affairs was “of course very emotional for us,” stated the Dane. A 3rd of Greenland’s inhabitants, 17,000 folks, dwell in Denmark. Every tenth resident in Greenland is Danish. It is “not easy to find solutions when you wake up to threats every morning.”

According to a current Quinnipiac University ballot, 86 % of Americans oppose navy motion to beat Greenland.