Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in Paris, on January 28, 2026. THOMAS PADILLA/REUTERS
Marco Rubio, the United States secretary of state, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on Wednesday, January 28, that he hoped for “a good outcome for everybody” on the Greenland issue, after Donald Trump openly coveted the territory. One week after the American president reversed course and announced that he would give up on the possibility of seizing the island by force, in favor of talks on the autonomous Danish territory’s future, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has stayed cautious and focused on bolstering her European alliances. During her visit to Paris on Wednesday, she had lunch with Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée, after meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin the day before.
“The old world is gone and will not return,” the Danish head of government said, while speaking alongside Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, at a conference at the prestigious social sciences university Sciences Po. Nevertheless, she did not rule out transatlantic relationships as an important element for the European continent’s security: “The best way forward for the US and Europe is to stick together,” she said, adding that, in the face of Russia, “if we allow them to win in Ukraine, they will continue.”
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