EGN NEWS DESK
Are you a Greenlander worrying about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s newest declare that American “possession and management” of your homeland is a “necessity”?
If so, your anxiousness could also be well-founded. Even although the overwhelming majority of Greenlanders are EU residents, the EU’s diplomatic service, often known as the European External Action Service (EEAS), isn’t precisely popping out guns-blazing towards Trump’s suggestion of an impending land seize.
“I can give you a fast reply: We don’t touch upon feedback,” stated Anouar El Anouni, an EU spokesperson for overseas affairs and safety coverage.
Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, will not be within the EU however is classed as an “Overseas Territory related to the EU.” Of the virtually 57,000 individuals who reside on the enormous, mineral-rich island, solely about 2,000 are non-Danes, that means the inhabitants principally consists of EU residents.
Trump expressed his renewed curiosity in buying Greenland — after having initially carried out so again in 2019 — on Sunday whereas appointing his new ambassador to Denmark: PayPal co-founder and former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Kenneth Howery.
“For functions of National Security and Freedom all through the World, the United States of America feels that the possession and management of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump stated in a submit on Truth Social.
But not everybody has been as diffident as Brussels at the opportunity of Greenland’s falling into American palms.
“Greenland is ours,” stated the territory’s prime minister, Múte Egede, on Facebook Monday. “We will not be on the market and can by no means be on the market.” Egede insisted that Greenland belonged to its inhabitants, who should not lose their “lengthy wrestle for freedom.”
Officially, Copenhagen aligns itself with Egede’s place.
Hours after Trump posted his remarks, Denmark introduced it might increase its protection spending in Greenland to at the least €1.3 billion, though Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stated the timing was merely an “irony of destiny.”
The governments of Greenland and Denmark didn’t instantly reply to POLITICO’s request for remark.
