US President Donald Trump has not abandoned his intention to seize the world's largest island, Greenland.
European politicians are looking for a plan to stop the American leader, writes Politico.
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Trump first tried to strike a deal with Denmark to buy Greenland in 2019, during his first term, for annual payments of $600 million. But Danish and local autonomous politicians opposed it.
The situation with Greenland is currently developing very quickly. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on January 7 that the future of Greenland will be decided next week. Trump wants to buy the island, negotiations with Denmark will begin.
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Europe is preparing for a direct confrontation with the United States.
“We must be prepared for a direct confrontation with Trump. He has an aggressive mood, and we must be ready,” the publication quotes an EU diplomat familiar with the current discussions as saying.
The former Danish MP noted that Europe does not know what tools they have to stop Trump.
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Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The population is about 57 thousand people. Despite rich reserves of minerals, oil and natural gas, the economy of the island is heavily dependent on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.
The island occupies an extremely advantageous geographical position on the way from America to Europe. Greenland is also the gateway to the Arctic with its natural resources. Therefore, owning it is an unconditional economic advantage in the conditions of fierce competition on the world markets for food, raw materials and industrial products.
Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is critical to U.S. security interests. He has also criticized Denmark for not doing enough to protect its islands from growing Chinese and Russian military activity in the Arctic.
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The publication writes that NATO allies could act as mediators between the US and Denmark. One option is to offer new proposals to Trump that could strengthen Greenland's security.
This includes the possibility of accelerating defense spending in the Arctic, conducting more military exercises in the region, and deploying troops to secure Greenland.
Diplomats propose creating an “Arctic Sentinel” scheme — transferring part of their military assets to this region (similar to the “Eastern Sentinel” and “Baltic Sentinel” initiatives).
The second option for European politicians is to double spending on Greenland from 2028 within the framework of long-term budget plans.
This is 530 million euros for a seven-year period starting in 2028. This will be in addition to the funds that Denmark provides to Greenland as part of the agreement with the self-governing territory.
Under the same project, Greenland will also be eligible to apply for additional EU funding of €44 million for remote territories linked to European countries.
This attractive offer from Denmark and the EU may be enough to keep Greenlanders from falling under American influence, the publication notes.
The EU also has a powerful political tool that could be used to deter Trump: the anti-coercive tool, the “trade bazooka,” created after Trump’s first term, which allows the EU to take action in response to trade discrimination.
“Our exports to the United States amount to just over 600 billion euros, and for about a third of these goods we have a market share of over 50%, it is absolutely clear that this is also a strength in our hands,” the publication quotes Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament's trade committee, as saying.
If the US uses the last resort of coercion – military force, the Europeans will not be able to prevent it.
Journalists cite military expert Crosby as saying that the Europeans will not preemptively attack the Americans before they capture Greenland, because that would be tantamount to starting a war.
“But if the Americans send a very small group of people, they could try to arrest these people, because that would be a criminal offense,” Crosby believes.
European countries should assess the possibility of deploying troops to the Arctic island if Denmark requests it, to increase the potential costs of US military action, an EU diplomat said.
It should be noted that the US military operation in Venezuela and the arrest of President Maduro, as well as the seizure of Russian oil tankers, indicate that President Trump, after words, moves on to action if it serves the interests of the US. Therefore, the same actions could be applied to Greenland.