It was a questionable, aggressive telephone call, five days before the start of President Trump 20 January.
Mr. Trump spoke with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark and insisted that he wanted the United States to take over Greenland, a massive and autonomous Danish island, which occupies the strategic part of the ocean when opening the ice cap and new traffic lanes.
The tone and content of the ice exchange were described by two European officials who were informed of a 45 -minute call and asked for anonymity due to sensitivity of the topic. The United States did not publicly comment on the call.
Mrs. Frederiksen submitted various proposals for greater cooperation in the field of military and economic questions, but insisted that Greenland, which already hosts an important American base, was not for sale.
Since then on January 15, whose aggressive tenor has been previously reported In the Financial Times, Denmark tried to calm the waters and urged its partners in the European Union not to attack the situation until they were interested in matters, the officials said. For example, the question of Greenland is not on Monday on Monday in the Agenda of the Council for Foreign Affairs in Brussels in Brussels.
If Mr. Trump decides to push Denmark with economic resources, the European Union itself is expected to respond as a whole with counterattacks, said Zaki Laždi, Professor Sciences PO and advisor to former EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fonelles.
“I have been told that Trump is quite serious about Greenland and it will be a huge challenge for the EU if we are not strongly responding to it,” Laždi said. He confirmed that “Danes say,” Hold it down, “but they are scared.”
This feeling of premonition was obvious in Davos, Switzerland, where European leaders with managers and academics for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum were gathered last week. The legends of the call of Mr. Trump and Mrs. Frederiksen did not check at the assembly, as well as the nervousness of what the second administration of Trump would mean for Europe as a whole.
For now, they are focused on dialogue. On Friday Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Danish Foreign Minister and Prime Minister during the first Trump administration, 20 -minute telephone discussion with new state secretaries of the United States, Rubi MarcoO. Then Mr. Rasmussen said that both countries agreed to discuss the “Arctic region” and that an interview that included other problems like Ukraine had a “good and constructive tone”.
The Foreign Ministry stated that Mr. Rubio “reaffirmed the strength of the relationship” between the two countries. Both men, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “discussed the importance of deepening bilateral and regional cooperation in the field of security and defense, economic and business affairs and ending war in Ukraine.”
Officially, Denmark said little about the phone call between Mr. Trump and Mrs. Frederiksen. Declaration Mrs. Frederiksen’s office immediately afterwards did not mention sharp disagreements, but emphasized trade in the United States and talked about cooperation, dialogue and increased investment in security in Denmark.
“In the interview, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of strengthening security in the Arctic and that Denmark is ready to make even more responsibility for it,” the statement said. In her statement, Mrs. Frederiksen quoted the chairman of the Greenland Parliament, Mute Egede, and said that Greenland is not on sale and claims that “it depends on Greenland itself to decide on independence.”
Officials who were informed of the phone call and Mr. Laždi suggested that Mr. Trump’s intentions were unclear, and that he could move to encourage the Greenks to vote for independence in the referendum and then bind to the United States. Or maybe he will want to push Denmark and the European Union with tariffs. Brussels cooperates with Danes to hit the right tone and find out what Mr. Trump really wants, one official said.
In response to questions on Sunday, the Danish Office of the Prime Minister stated that “he does not recognize an interpretation of an interview that reports anonymous resources”.
On the basis of an agreement of 2009 with Denmark, Greenland can declare independence only after a successful referendum – which was designed by Mr. Eged, it can take place in a tandem with the upcoming parliamentary elections of the island in April.
Mr. Trump called us control over Greenland “absolute necessity” for Western security and on Saturday in walking with reporters said, “I think we will have it.”
Friis Arne Petersen, a former Danish Ambassador in Washington, said “Europe, Greenland and the rest of the world must take Donald Trump’s statement very seriously because they were carefully prepared.”
“The conditions used and their context remained no room for interpretation,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro. Mr. Trump’s interest in Greenland was more commercial in his first term – when he first offered it to buy it – but now it is mostly about security, Petersen said.
The question of Greenland “is most important to the EU,” Laždi said. “At stake is our credibility.” Danish want to keep a low profile, but this is not the way the world works. ”
Greenland, with a population of around 60,000, was a Danish colony until it became self -government with its own parliament in 1979. It remains the territory of Denmark, while Copenhagen performs control of its foreign and defensive policy.
