“We must face the fact that there are serious challenges regarding security and defence in the Arctic and North Atlantic,” Denmark‘s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in a statement.
His announcement came ahead of a visit by the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to Berlin, Paris and Brussels this week to shore up “European unity” on Greenland.
Greenland is already part of a power struggle in the Arctic. As its ice melts due to global warming, the battle for its natural resources is also heating up – enormous oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under its seas. Russia and China have already increased their Arctic mining activities and military presence, and the region may soon offer new shipping routes between the US and Europe.
“Europe is facing a serious situation. With war on the continent and shifts in the geopolitical reality. In moments like this, unity is crucial,” Frederiksen said in a statement.
She said she would be meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the NATO transatlantic defence alliance.
“Denmark is a small country with strong allies. And it is part of a strong European community where together we can meet the challenges we face,” Frederiksen said.
The announcement and visit come after Trump earlier this month expressed interest in controlling Greenland and the Panama Canal and refused to rule out using military force to do so.
“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” he said.
‘Not negotiating’
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday said the European Union is “not negotiating” on Greenland following Trump’s claims.
“We are not negotiating on Greenland. Of course we are supporting our member state, Denmark, and its autonomous region, Greenland, but we shouldn’t also go into speculation about what-ifs because this is not the situation right now,” Kallas told reporters after an EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
Greenland and Denmark have both publicly said the Arctic island is not for sale, with Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede saying that its people should decide their own future.
Trump reportedly spoke with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen in a 45-minutes call last week described as “horrendous” in which he upped the rhetoric by threatening tariffs.
“The intent was very clear. They want it. The Danes are now in crisis mode,” one European official told the Financial Times.
Watch moreArctic scramble: Climate change prompts resource race
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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