France declared solidarity with Denmark on Monday following fresh threats by US President Donald Trump to take over Greenland.
“Borders cannot be changed by force,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told television channel TF1. “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the Danes, and it is up to them to decide what to do with it.”
The French statement came after Trump doubled down on Sunday on his claim that the autonomous Danish territory should become part of the United States, declaring “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela last week, which resulted in the seizure of President Nicolas Maduro who is now detained in New York, has intensified European concerns about his territorial ambitions. The US president announced Washington would “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its vast oil reserves.
France denounces violation of UN Charter
Confavreux said international law had not been respected during the US intervention in Venezuela. “We will not mourn” Maduro, who “had lost his legitimacy,” the spokesman stated, but added it was the duty of “prominent, permanent members” of the UN Security Council such as France to denounce any violation of the United Nations Charter.
“We deplore it, we are preparing for this advent of the law of the strongest, but we are not resigned to it,” he said.
The French position reflects growing alarm in Paris about what officials view as an increasingly aggressive US foreign policy that challenges post-war international norms. As a permanent Security Council member, France has positioned itself as a defender of multilateralism and the UN Charter against what it characterises as unilateral American actions.
Denmark warns NATO at stake
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen delivered a stark warning on Monday that any US military action against Greenland would destroy 80 years of transatlantic security arrangements.
“If the United States decides to militarily attack another NATO country, then everything would stop—that includes NATO and, therefore, post-World War II security,” she told TV2 network.
Frederiksen called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally” and described US claims on Greenland as “absurd.”
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told Trump on social media: “That’s enough now. No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.” He added the territory was open to dialogue “but this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.”
European solidarity emerges
France joined a chorus of European support for Denmark. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark” could decide the territory’s future, whilst leaders from Finland, Sweden and Norway issued similar statements.
EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper told reporters the bloc was committed to defending the territorial integrity of its members.
The controversy escalated after Katie Miller, wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, posted an online image on Saturday showing Greenland in the colours of the US flag with the caption “SOON.”
Stephen Miller, widely seen as architect of many Trump policies, told CNN on Monday: “The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland!”
Strategic Arctic prize
Greenland sits on the shortest missile route between Russia and the United States, and Washington maintains a military base there. The territory holds untapped rare earth deposits and could become strategically vital as polar ice melts, opening new shipping routes.
Trump has ramped up pressure over recent months, claiming in December that Russian and Chinese ships were “all over” the territory’s coast. China’s foreign ministry hit back on Monday, urging Washington to “stop using the so-called China threat as an excuse to seek personal gain.”
Aaja Chemnitz, who represents Greenland in the Danish parliament, accused Trump of “spreading lies about Chinese and Russian warships” and told Agence France-Presse that “the people of Greenland should go into preparation mode.”
Trump told reporters he would discuss Greenland again “in about two months” or “in 20 days,” suggesting continued pressure on Denmark.
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Photo credit: Aningaaq Rosing Carlsen, Unsplash
