The former prime minister of Denmark has told Sky News her country is “being bullied” by the US over Greenland, and that it views this as “an act of aggression”.
Speaking to the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Helle Thorning-Schmidt said: “We’re a very small country, and to be honest with you, we feel bullied.
“We feel bullied by a bigger nation. It is like in the schoolyard, where we feel that we are being bullied.”
Her comments come after Donald Trump again made it clear he would like to acquire the semi-autonomous territory in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The US president said this week that “we need Greenland from the standpoint of national security”.
On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added that acquiring the island is “something that’s currently being actively discussed by the president and national security team”.
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Greenland runs most of its own internal affairs – but the island’s foreign, defence and security policy is controlled by Denmark.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt told Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby: “If you imagine this happened to the British Isles, where you suddenly had an American flag over it, the provocation is huge.”
Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Mr Trump on the phone on Wednesday, where he “set out his position on Greenland”.
The prime minister has told MPs that “Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark”.
But Ms Thorning-Schmidt has warned “if there is any kind of hostility, or annexation of whatever from America, on Greenland, it is the end of NATO as we know it”.
She said: “This is an extremely dangerous situation not only for Denmark, but also for, for NATO and the whole basis on which NATO was formed.
“If it ever came to a conflict between the US and Denmark or NATO around this, that would be a fantastic day for Mr Putin, and President Xi in China.”
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She added that she hopes Mr Trump’s sabre-rattling is merely a “negotiating tactic” – and pointed out that the US already have a military base in Greenland, where she said both Danes and Greenlanders would “welcome” an expanded US presence.
Ms Thorning-Schmidt said: “All of that could be done in collaboration with Denmark, Greenland and NATO, and we would be stronger for it.
“Where if there was something like an invasion or something hostile taking place, we would be much weaker for that. So there’s a fork in the road here.”
She also argued that all current and former Danish PMs “have been in the Oval Office, have met American presidents [and] have been told we are punching about our weight, because we have always contributed to American missions, or NATO missions”.
Mr Trump’s threats to Greenland have been a “big shock to the Danish way of thinking about allies”, she added.
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Sir Keir spoke to the Danish PM Mette Frederiksen on Thursday afternoon, where the Labour leader “reiterated his position on Greenland”. He also spoke to NATO General-Secretary Mark Rutte.
“I actually think the European leaders are doing a lot right now,” Ms Thorning-Schmidt said. “What we don’t want to do is to be more aggressive or have a harder tone than is absolutely necessary at this stage.
“This can be settled extremely peacefully because there is absolutely no resistance to the Americans taking on a bigger role in Greenland.”
