BREAKINGVIEWS-US Greenland threat calls for united EU action

By Pierre Briancon

BERLIN, JAN 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - It must feel cold and lonely at the top for Mette Frederiksen. The Danish prime minister hasn’t been overwhelmed by European support as she tries to warn U.S. President Donald Trump that Greenland shouldn’t figure on his menu of territories to conquer. Shocked into near-silence by the U.S. raid on Venezuela, the continent’s leaders have failed to mount a robust show of solidarity with Denmark - a North Atlantic Treaty Organization and European Union member whose arctic territory Washington overtly wants to seize.

Greenland is a European problem, not only a matter for Copenhagen. Its strategic importance is not measured by its tiny, $3 billion GDP. The only way to avoid another major debilitating crisis for Europe is to step up now and side with Denmark. To be credible, the response should include sending some troops from countries like Germany, France or even the UK to Greenland.

European leaders have two reasons for shaking off their torpor. The first is that the threat to seize Greenland can no longer be dismissed as the casual rants of a hyperbole-prone American president. “We need Greenland for national security,” Trump reiterated Monday in an interview with NBC news, adding he was “very serious” about the matter. The second reason for Europe to display solidarity with Denmark without waiting is that the raid on Venezuela is a test of its resolve - deliberate or not.

As Frederiksen noted, a U.S. annexation of Greenland would trigger a serious crisis for NATO, and maybe its demise. Europe may be faced with the conundrum of having to consider the U.S. a hostile power. It is in its interest to deter such an outcome.

European diplomatic sources acknowledged to Breakingviews that there might be ways for Europe to take a strong stance while opening the path for cooperation with Washington. Trump has alleged, without providing evidence, that Greenland is surrounded by patrolling and hostile Russian and Chinese ships. Europe could propose to help monitor the traffic, and send ships of its own.

And since Trump seems intent on tapping Greenland’s critical raw materials, Denmark and its European allies could also offer the U.S. closer cooperation in exploring and later exploiting the deposits of rare earths or other materials such as lithium.

In the short term, though, Europe needs to prove it is also serious. If Denmark and the Greenland government ask for such help, it should send a few hundred troops and a few jets to the territory. Some governments may fear that could antagonize Trump into reducing U.S. troop presence in Europe. But European leaders should already have got the message that they need to rely on themselves to pay for their defence. Acting now looks like the only meaningful way to stand up to the bully.

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CONTEXT NEWS

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on January 5 that she believes U.S. President Donald Trump is serious about wanting to take over Greenland, and that both Denmark and Greenland have clearly rejected his ambition.

"Unfortunately, I think the American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland," Frederiksen told public broadcaster DR.

"If the United States attacks another NATO country, everything stops," she added.