By Stine Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, and will travel to Paris on Wednesday to shore up support over U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to take over the Arctic island that has been Danish territory for centuries.
The U.S. demand for control of Greenland has shaken transatlantic relations and accelerated European efforts to reduce dependence on the United States, even as Trump last week withdrew tariff threats and ruled out taking Greenland by force.
“I have a deep gratitude towards the Americans. But there is now so much disruption that the most important thing to me is that we Europeans now do the right thing to be able to protect our people, country, freedom and security,” Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen told German public broadcaster ARD.
A German government spokesperson said Merz reaffirmed Berlin’s solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.
“He repeatedly made it clear that Germany, as a European NATO ally, would also do more for security in the High North within the framework of NATO. This is a common transatlantic interest,” the spokesperson said.
FRANCE PLEDGES EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY
Frederiksen and Greenland’s Jens-Frederik Nielsen will meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, an official schedule showed.
Frederiksen and Nielsen would discuss “the current foreign policy situation and the need for a strengthened Europe” in their meetings, the Danish prime minister’s office said earlier on Tuesday.
The diplomatic rift between Denmark and the United States, both founding members of NATO, had seemed in recent weeks to threaten the future of the military alliance, although the conflict has since been moved to a diplomatic track.
“I’m very, very happy for the massive European support,” Frederiksen told ARD. “When Europe stands together, and when Europe stands up for itself, it works.”
Macron planned to reaffirm European solidarity and France’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland, his office said in a statement.
“The three leaders will discuss security challenges in the Arctic and the economic and social development of Greenland, which France and the European Union are ready to support,” it said.
Trump said last week he had secured total and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.
Denmark and Greenland have said they can discuss a wide range of topics with the United States but are demanding respect for their “red lines” on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Anna Ringstrom, additional reporting by Alexander Ratz in Berlin, editing by Terje Solsvik and Alex Richardson)
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