Brussels’ silence about Trump’s territorial claim in Greenland

According to Isna, the European Commission today (Wednesday) refused to make a definite and clear comment on the statements of the US President-elect Donald Trump about the occupation of the island of Greenland.

On Tuesday, Trump did not deny the use of military and economic means to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland Island, and also raised the issue of Canada joining the United States as one of its states. He said the US needed control of Greenland and the Panama Canal “for security reasons”.

The spokesmen of the European Commission, who were under heavy pressure from journalists and were repeatedly asked what action Europe would take in case of an American attack on Greenland, refused to answer these questions and said that they would not “go into details”. became.

“It is clear that the sovereignty and independence of countries must be respected,” European Commission spokesperson Anita Hipper said, stating that Brussels is eager to cooperate with the new US administration.

Some reporters in this press conference compared Trump’s statements with Moscow’s positions before the start of the war in Ukraine and the attack on Kiev, when the European Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency and diplomats of some European countries said that Russia would not attack Ukraine.

“What Trump said the other day was a military threat against a (UN) member,” an Italian reporter said. He is the elected president of the most powerful country in the world. Do you understand the danger?”

Although Greenland is an autonomous region belonging to Denmark and not a member of the European Union, it has the status of an “associated overseas territory of the European Union”. On the other hand, out of the 57,000 population of this self-governing island, there are only 2,000 non-Danish citizens, which means that the majority of its population is made up of members of the European Union.

Although the European Commission acknowledged that any military attack on Greenland would trigger Article 42, paragraph 7 of the EU Treaty, the Commission refused to give a clear answer to the question of how serious it considers the threat of an American attack on Greenland. .

Trump’s statements caused a strong reaction from the French government. The foreign minister of this country emphasized that the European Union will not allow other countries to attack its borders. However, no such decisive message was sent at today’s Brussels press conference.

Another journalist present at the meeting raised a question that was not answered: “You say that independence is very important, but you don’t want to comment on the obvious threat of the next American president. I can’t understand, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for US naval forces to enter Greenland?

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