COPENHAGEN – Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was due on Tuesday to meet UK counterpart Keir Starmer, as she seeks European support to counter US President Donald Trump’s remarks about taking over Greenland.
The meeting in London will focus on “security in Europe”, according to Frederiksen’s office.
While the statement did not specifically mention Greenland — which is an autonomous Danish territory — or the United States, Frederiksen was quoted saying: “We need a stronger Europe that contributes more to NATO and stands more on its own.”
“At the same time, we must do our part to maintain the transatlantic partnership that has been the foundation for peace and prosperity since World War II,” Frederiksen added.
Trump has repeatedly signaled that he wants the Arctic island — which is strategically important and is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the United States.
In an interview with broadcaster Fox News over the weekend, US Vice President J.D. Vance said Greenland was “really important” to US “national security.”
“Frankly, Denmark, which controls Greenland, it’s not doing its job and it’s not being a good ally,” Vance said.
On Monday, Frederiksen insisted Denmark was “one of the United States’ most important and best allies”.
Last week, she visited Paris and Berlin to seek backing from the European Union’s traditional powerhouses against Trump’s threats.
A day after Trump was sworn in as president, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted that Greenlanders “don’t want to be American.”
Danish leaders have insisted that Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.
Speaking onboard Air Force One, Trump had said: “I think we’re going to have it,” and claimed the Arctic island’s 57,000 residents “want to be with us.”
But a new survey by pollster Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, showed only 6 percent of Greenlanders are in favor of becoming part of the US, with 9 percent undecided.
The new poll came as Denmark’s prime minister said Europe must “stand together” in the face of changing relations with the US during a whistle-sop tour of Berlin, Paris and Brussels.