Uproar over Trump

Austria also insists on Greenland’s “sovereignty”

Air Force Trump recently landed in Greenland. The reason was a "purely private visit" by Trump's son Donald Jr.(Bild: APA/AP)

Even if Donald Trump's interest in the island of Greenland is rather hypothetical, numerous EU government representatives are currently rushing to emphasize that the sovereignty of the self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark is inviolable. The government in Vienna also rejects Trump's "threats of annexation".

"Territorial integrity and sovereignty must be preserved by all", the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday. At the same time, it said that a question about the obligation to provide assistance in the EU treaty was of a "purely hypothetical nature". The Foreign Ministry in Vienna made its statement after EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas had also joined the discussion. "We must respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Greenland," said the former Estonian head of government in Brussels on Thursday. "Greenland is part of Denmark", the EU chief diplomat emphasized with regard to the Nordic member of the Union. 

The Foreign Secretary of former EU member Great Britain, David Lammy, tried to play down Trump's statements. "It's not going to happen," he said in a BBC interview on Thursday in response to the future US president's threats to integrate Greenland, even by military or economic force. There has not been a war between members of the military alliance since NATO was founded, said Lammy. He is certain that Trump will ultimately recognize that Greenland belongs to the Danish kingdom.

Meloni rules out annexation "in the next few years"
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who recently met Trump at his private residence Mar-a-Lago, was also reassuring. "I think I can rule out the possibility that the United States will try to annex territories that interest them by force in the next few years," she told journalists. Trump's comments were "more of a message to other global players".

Italy's head of government Giorgia Meloni tried to appease the situation.(Bild: AFP/Andreas SOLARO)

Lammy also expressed the assumption that Trump was concerned with national economic security and the role of Russia and China in the Arctic in connection with the huge island in the North Atlantic. Nevertheless, he warned of the negative consequences of Trump's statements: "We know from Donald Trump's first term in office that the intensity of his rhetoric and the occasional unpredictability of his statements can have a destabilizing effect."

Kremlin brings referendum like the one in eastern Ukraine into play
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Trump's statements on Greenland as a "rather dramatic development" and emphasized that the Arctic is also "a zone of strategic interests" for Russia. "We want peace and stability in the Arctic," emphasized Peskov. He assessed the European reaction as weak. He identified fear of Trump.

The Kremlin spokesman suggested asking the people of Greenland which country they wanted to belong to and referred to the regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia had declared annexed in 2022, where Moscow had held internationally criticized sham referendums. The opinion of the Greenlanders should be respected.