The EU has discussed what a European response would look like if the US threats to acquire Greenland, a self-governed Danish territory, were real, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"The messages that we hear regarding Greenland are extremely concerning," Kallas told reporters at a press briefing with Egypt's Foreign Affairs minister Badr Abdelatty in Cairo on Thursday.
President Donald Trump remains committed to the NATO alliance even as he and his national security team are holding active discussions about a US purchase of Greenland, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Denmark has welcomed a meeting with the US next week to discuss Trump’s renewed call for Greenland to come under American control.
“This is the dialogue that is needed, as requested by the government together with the Greenlandic government,” Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Wednesday that a meeting about Greenland would happen next week, without giving details about timing, location or participants.
Greenland's government has told Danish public broadcaster DR that Greenland will participate in the meeting between Denmark and the US announced by Rubio.
“Nothing about Greenland without Greenland. Of course, we will be there. We are the ones who requested the meeting,” Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt told DR.
“Greenland belongs to its people," Antonio Costa, the President of the European Council, said on Wednesday.
“Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland. They have the full solid support and solidarity of the European Union.”
The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK joined Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of Trump’s comments about Greenland, which is part of the NATO military alliance.
