The Danish leadership has reacted diplomatically to Trump’s speeches. According to the researcher, Denmark wants to leave the harshest comments to others.
COPENHAGEN Trump surprised with his comments once again, says a Danish researcher to .
The future president has previously expressed his interest in buying Denmark’s self-governing region of Greenland. At Tuesday’s press conference, Trump said he does not rule out the possibility of using economic and military force to achieve his goals.
Senior researcher at the Danish Foreign Policy Institute DIIS Mikkel Runge Olesen emphasizes that Trump’s answer to the reporter’s question was very unclear and can be interpreted in many ways.
– We don’t know if Trump’s answer should be seen as a concrete threat or just his attempt to undermine his negotiating partner. But be that as it may, this was a great shock to Denmark.
According to Runge Olesen, the fact that the US president is talking about a military threat is very serious.
It was also not clear from Trump’s comment whether the threat would target Denmark, Greenland or both.
Moderate comment from the Danish management
Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen has so far commented only briefly on the matter. Fredriksen said he could not imagine the United States using military or economic power to take control of Greenland.
On the other hand, harsher comments have been heard from the rest of Europe.
For example, the French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday that the EU will not under any circumstances allow other countries to attack its borders.
According to the researcher, it is possible that the Danish management is happy to leave the sharpest commentary to others.
– I could imagine that Mette Frederiksen is happy that someone else is knocking out Trump’s comments and she herself can be more diplomatic, says Runge Olesen.
Runge Olesen recalls the uproar that arose during Trump’s last term, when he said for the first time that he wanted to buy Greenland.
Frederiksen, who was also prime minister at the time, called the purchase intentions absurd. Trump was upset by Frederiksen’s choice of words and canceled his planned visit to Denmark.
Greenland’s independence intentions are a hot topic
At the same time as Trump’s statements, more and more Greenlanders and the Greenlandic leadership want independence for the Danish island.
Chairman of the State Board Muté B. Egede brought it up again in his New Year’s speech.
In Greenland, elections will be held in the spring, the main theme of which will be independence.
Runge Olesen, a researcher familiar with Denmark’s transatlantic relations and the Arctic region, says that the wishes for independence are mainly related to Greenland’s relationship with the United States.
If Greenland were independent, it could decide for itself what kind of cooperation it wants with the United States.
– In this uproar, the first thing is to find out exactly what the United States is after. And then when it is certain, we must first of all ask the Greenlanders what Greenland wants, says Runge Olesen.
So far, Greenlandic politicians have shot down Trump’s purchase intentions. Egede has succinctly commented that Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.
In his New Year’s speech, he said that Trump is of course welcome to visit Greenland.