Pictured January 3, 2025 French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU would not tolerate attacks on its territory after US President Donald Trump called on the US to take control of Greenland.
Omar Haji Kadur | Afp | getty images
After US President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly said it was “necessary” to keep Greenland under US control, France’s foreign minister said the European Union would not tolerate attacks within its borders.
In an interview with France Inter radio station, Jean-Noël Barrot said the bloc’s 27 member states would never tolerate any attempt to attack EU territory.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark and an overseas country and territory (OCT) affiliated with the EU.
“There is no doubt that the European Union will allow other countries in the world, whoever they may be, to attack their sovereign borders, starting with Russia,” Barrot said, according to a CNBC translation. “We are a strong continent. We must strengthen ourselves further.”
CNBC has reached out to the European Union for comment.
Barrot added that he did not believe Washington would launch a physical attack on Greenland.
“If you ask me whether I think the United States will invade Greenland, the answer is no,” he explained. “But have we entered an era of survival of the fittest? The answer is yes.”
Also Wednesday, a German government spokesman said Berlin had taken note of Trump’s comments on Greenland.
“As always, the honorable principles of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Agreement apply: borders should not be moved by force. Germany said after Trump’s comments that borders should not be moved by force.” They said this at a regular press conference. to Reuters.
France and Germany have made it clear they oppose the notion of Denmark giving Greenland to the United States, but one country in the region appears to support the president-elect. In Russia, Trump’s stance on Greenland garnered positive media coverage, with pro-Kremlin critics saying it validated Moscow’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine.
The comments from France and Germany come ahead of a meeting between Greenland’s Prime Minister Moute Egge and the King of Denmark in Copenhagen, scheduled to take place at 2pm Danish time. An agenda for the meeting was not provided, but the meeting took place the same week that King Frederick updated the royal coat of arms to include details on Greenland’s representation.
The change follows the incoming US president’s renewed call for Greenland, an Arctic island with a population of more than 56,000, to be placed under US control.
Last month, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “ownership” of Greenland was vital to America’s national and economic security. He first raised the idea of purchasing Greenland from Denmark in 2019, during his first term as president, but the idea was flatly rejected by the Danish leadership.
Danish and Greenlandic leaders have again rejected the idea that the islands could join the United States under a second Trump administration, with Egede reiterating last month that “we are not for sale.”
That hasn’t stopped Trump’s territorial pursuit. The president-elect has threatened to use his economic power to fulfill his repeated requests for a transition, and his son Donald Trump Jr. landed on the island Tuesday for an unofficial visit.
