The leaders of six major European countries said in a joint statement on Tuesday that only Denmark and Greenland can decide on the future of the autonomous region. The statement comes amid renewed claims by US president Donald Trump over Greenland.
“Greenland belongs to its people, and only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations,” the leaders of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Denmark said in a joint statement.
CD&V, part of Belgium’s federal government, urged prime minister Bart De Wever to join the statement. “Belgium should (…) help make it clear to any aggressor that European territory is not just up for grabs,” MP Els Van Hoof said on Tuesday.
De Wever later did so at a meeting of Ukraine’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ in Paris. “The West is strongest when it is united and working together, not when it divides itself,” he said.
Tensions have risen in the aftermath of the US military operation in Caracas over the weekend, during which Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro was arrested. On Sunday, Trump again argued that the United States needs control of Greenland for national security reasons. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark and a part of NATO through Denmark.
European leaders stressed that Arctic security is a shared priority, but said it must be pursued collectively within NATO. They underlined that cooperation must be based on the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.
End of NATO
On Monday, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a US military attack on Greenland or any other NATO country would have far-reaching consequences. “If the US were to militarily attack another NATO country, everything would stop, including NATO and the security structure that has existed since the end of World War II.”
Meanwhile, Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged calm on Tuesday, expressing his wish to restore dialogue with Washington. “The situation is not such that the United States can conquer Greenland. That is not the case. So there is no need to panic,” he told reporters in Nuuk. “We should restore the good cooperation we had.”
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French president Emmanuel Macron, Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen attend a joint press conference in Nuuk, Greenland in June 2025. PHOTO © Ludovic MARIN / AFP