Denmark says negotiations with US are ‘necessary’ on Greenland – National

Denmark has welcomed a meeting with the United States next week to discuss President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island of Greenland to come under American control.

“It is dialogue that is necessary, as requested by the government in collaboration with the Greenlandic government,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish TV channel DR on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that a meeting on Greenland would take place next week, without giving details on the schedule, location or participants.

“I’m not here to talk about Denmark or military intervention. I’ll meet with them next week and we’ll have those conversations with them then,” Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Greenland’s government told Danish public broadcaster DR that Greenland would participate in the Denmark-US meeting announced by Rubio.

“Nothing about Greenland without Greenland. Of course we will be there. We are the ones who asked for the meeting,” Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt told DR.

The island of Greenland, 80 percent of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to around 56,000 people, most of them Inuit.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Denmark had “clearly” not done an adequate job securing Greenland and that Trump “was willing to go as far as he has to” to defend U.S. interests in the Arctic.

In an interview with Fox News, Vance reiterated Trump’s assertion that Greenland is crucial to both the national security of the United States and the world because “the entire missile defense infrastructure depends in part on Greenland.”

He said that the fact that Denmark was a staunch military ally of the United States during World War II and the more recent “war on terror” did not necessarily mean it was doing enough to secure Greenland today.

“Just because you did something smart 25 years ago doesn’t mean you can’t do something stupid now,” Vance said, adding that Trump is “making it very clear, ‘you’re not doing a good job on Greenland.’

Vance’s comments come after Rubio told a select group of US lawmakers that the Republican administration intends to buy Greenland, rather than use military force.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, said on Wednesday. “Nothing can be decided about Denmark and Greenland without Denmark, nor without Greenland. They benefit from the support and solidarity of the European Union.”

The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday in defending Greenland’s sovereignty, following Trump’s comments about Greenland, part of the NATO military alliance.

After Vance’s visit to Greenland last year, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen released a video detailing the 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. Since 1945, the U.S. military presence in Greenland has grown from thousands of troops at 17 bases and installations on the island, Rasmussen said, to the isolated Pituffik space base in the northwest, which now has some 200 troops. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO.

The 1951 agreement “provides many opportunities for the United States to have a much stronger military presence in Greenland,” Rasmussen said. “If that’s what you want, let’s discuss it.”

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Last year, the Danish parliament approved a bill allowing U.S. military bases on Danish soil. The legislation expands a previous military agreement, reached in 2023 with the Biden administration, under which US troops had broad access to Danish air bases in the Scandinavian country.

Denmark is preparing to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and throughout the North Atlantic.

Last year, the government announced a 14.6 billion crown ($2.3 billion) deal with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another autonomous territory of Denmark, to “improve surveillance capabilities and maintain sovereignty in the region.”

The plan includes three new military ships in the Arctic, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.
Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command, headquartered in Nuuk, is responsible for “the surveillance, assertion of sovereignty and military defense of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.”

Islands”, according to its website. It has smaller satellite stations across the island.

Also stationed in Greenland is the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite Danish naval unit that carries out long-range reconnaissance and reinforces Danish sovereignty in the Arctic wilderness.

Greenland should hold direct negotiations with the U.S. government without Denmark, a Greenlandic opposition leader told Reuters, as the Arctic island considers how to respond to new pressure from President Donald Trump to bring it under U.S. control.

The island is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It has its own parliament and government, but Copenhagen retains its authority over foreign affairs and defense.

“We encourage our current (Greenlandic) government to engage with the US government without Denmark,” said Pele Broberg, the leader of Naleraq, the largest opposition party and the most prominent political voice in favor of Greenlandic independence.

“Because Denmark is antagonizing both Greenland and the United States with their mediation. »

Naleraq, which strongly advocates a rapid transition to full independence, doubled its seats to eight in last year’s elections, winning 25 percent of the vote.

– With a file from Reuters