The European Union can help ensure the security of Greenland if Denmark requests it, European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius said yesterday, warning that a US military takeover of the island would mean the end of NATO.
US President Donald Trump claims that the United States must own Greenland, an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from seizing the strategically important, mineral-rich Arctic territory.
Speaking at a security conference in Sweden, Kubilius invoked Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, which is often cited in the debate about what Europe could do in response to the US president's threats. Kubilius said he did not believe a US military invasion was imminent, but that Article 42.7 obliges member states to come to Denmark's aid if it faces military aggression.
"A lot will depend on Denmark, how they react, what their position will be, but there is definitely such an obligation for member states to provide mutual assistance if another member state faces military aggression," he said.
However, although it sounds strong, in practice this provision does not have the weight of an automatic military mechanism, and legally it is not entirely clear whether it would necessarily mean military intervention in a scenario such as an invasion of Greenland. So far, it has only been activated once - when France requested assistance after the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, the Guardian reminds.
The provision is often compared to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which stipulates that an attack on one member of the alliance is considered an attack on all. However, in this case, an additional dilemma is caused by the fact that Greenland has a special status in relation to the EU.
It is legally unclear whether the mutual assistance clause could even cover military assistance that would be needed in the event of an invasion of Greenland. “Although part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland would have to change its status and become the outermost region of the European Union… Such a process would require the consent of the people of Greenland and a revision of the Treaty,” one European politician told the Guardian.
Eric Jones, director of the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies at the European University in Florence, also questioned the “credibility” of Article 42.7 if Greenland were annexed by the United States. “Can you imagine Romania coming to the aid of Greenland? The European response has to be political. They have to rely on the idea of protecting Greenland’s sovereignty and the integrity of its sovereignty vis-à-vis the United States,” Jones said.
Denmark and the United States, both NATO members, are scheduled to meet this week to discuss Greenland. Greenland and Denmark have said Greenland is not for sale, but Trump has not ruled out the possibility of taking it by force.
"I agree with the Danish prime minister that it would be the end of NATO, but it would also be very, very negative among nations," Kubilius told Reuters at a security conference in Sweden.
He said it would have "a very profound negative impact among people and on our transatlantic relations."
On Monday, Trump tweeted on Truth Social: "I'm the one who saved NATO!!!" without providing further details or context.
Kubilius questioned the justification for taking Greenland by force and warned that it would have consequences for all aspects of relations between Europe and the United States. “Who will recognize this occupation and what impact will it have on the overall relations between the United States and Europe, including, for example, trade, where the Americans could also face quite painful negative consequences,” he said.
Kubilius said the EU could provide greater security for Greenland if Denmark requests it, including sending troops and military infrastructure, such as warships and anti-drone capabilities. “It’s up to military experts to say what Greenland or Arctic defense needs. Anything is possible,” he said.
Kubilius also said that Europe must build its military capabilities, regardless of whether it can count on help from the United States - but that any American withdrawal from NATO would be very difficult.
"It will be a huge challenge to be ready to defend Europe, to be independent, without the United States," he said.
“The question would be how we could use NATO structures in that case, how they could… become the basis for a European pillar of NATO. But NATO, in its current form, would definitely no longer exist.”
Trump said last week that the US will always support NATO and that Russia and China only fear the alliance as long as the United States is a member.
Many NATO countries have significantly increased military spending in recent years, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Trump's demands that European allies invest more in their own defense.
The Greenland government announced yesterday that it would step up efforts to ensure that the defense of the Arctic territory takes place under the auspices of NATO, and again rejected United States President Donald Trump's ambition to take over the island.
"All NATO member states, including the United States, have a common interest in the defense of Greenland," the island's coalition government said in a statement. "As part of the Danish kingdom, Greenland is a member of NATO and the defense of Greenland must therefore be through NATO," the government said.
"We are a democratic society that makes its own decisions. And our actions are based on international law," Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on LinkedIn.
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