US military takeover of Greenland would be end of NATO - EU Commissioner warns
The European Union can help provide security for Greenland, should Denmark request it, the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, said on Monday, warning that
a U.S. military takeover of Greenland would be the end of NATO.
Trump has said
the United States must own Greenland,
an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, to prevent Russia or China occupying the strategically located and minerals-rich Arctic territory. He says a U.S. military presence there is not enough.
Denmark and the U.S., both NATO members, are scheduled to meet this week to discuss Greenland. Greenland and Denmark have said that Greenland is not for sale, but Trump has not ruled out taking it by force.
Kubilius said he did not think a U.S. military invasion was coming but that the European Union Treaty article 42.7 obliged member states to come to Denmark's assistance if it was faced with military aggression.
It will depend on very much on Denmark, how they will react, what will be their position, but definitely there is such an obligation of member states to come for mutual assistance if another member state is facing military aggression,
he said.
Kubilius said
the EU could provide more security for Greenland, if Denmark requested it, including troops and military infrastructure such as warships and anti-drone capabilities.
"That's for military people to say what Greenland or the Arctic defence needs. Everything is possible," he said.
Kubilius also said Europe needed to build up its military capabilities, regardless of whether they could rely on U.S. help - but that any U.S. withdrawal from NATO would be very tough
."It will be a very big challenge to be ready to defend Europe, being independent, being without the United States," he said.
"The question would be how we can use in that case NATO structures, how they can be, you know, become a basis for European pillar of NATO.
But NATO such as it is now definitely will not exist anymore.
