BRUSSELS: European officials, ahead of an emergency EU summit dedicated to Greenland, feel betrayed by Washington and speak of a loss of t...
BRUSSELS: European officials, ahead of an emergency EU summit dedicated to Greenland, feel betrayed by Washington and speak of a loss of trust in the United States, the Politico newspaper reported, citing sources.
"We are experiencing a great rupture of the world order. Trust is lost," the newspaper quoted a comment from one of the European diplomats, considered a key US ally in the EU.
It is noted that the statement by US President Donald Trump about his intention not to use the US Armed Forces to establish control over Greenland did not convince European politicians due to the harshness of his remarks regarding alliance countries. One EU diplomat told Politico that due to the threat of trade tariffs against the EU over their stance on Greenland, the schism "became real."
EU politicians view the upcoming summit as "therapy" that will provide leaders with an opportunity to deliver a concrete response to Trump's speech in Davos and his subsequent statements. Two European Union diplomats, in a conversation with Politico, compared the current state of affairs to the period preceding World War II. "I think we are past Munich now. We realize that appeasement is not the right policy anymore," the newspaper quoted one of the sources as saying. In September 1938, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy concluded the Munich Agreement, which provided for the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. In March 1939, Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany and lost its state sovereignty.
In his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US President Donald Trump said he was committed to the objective of acquiring Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, but did not plan to use force to achieve the goal. The US leader also said that the previously announced tariffs against European countries supporting Greenland would not be imposed on February 1. However, Trump said that the US had been "extremely foolish" to return Greenland to Denmark after World War II. He added that his country intends to secure the transfer of Greenland from Denmark in order to deploy a large-scale Golden Dome missile defense system and continued his criticism of the EU's migration policies.
Greenland is Denmark’s autonomous territory. In 1951, Washington and Copenhagen signed the Greenland Defense Agreement in addition to their NATO alliance commitments. Under the treaty, the US committed to defend the island from potential aggression. Trump argues that owning Greenland is necessary to strengthen US national security and deploy the Golden Dome missile defense system effectively.
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