French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Greenland on Sunday, in a show of solidarity with Denmark meant to send a signal of European resolve after US President Donald Trump threatened to take over the island.
Greenland is a self-governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark with the right to declare independence. Both the Greenland and Danish governments say it is not for sale and only Greenlanders can determine their future.
President Donald Trump has said he wants the United States to take over the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island, and has not ruled out force. His vice president, JD Vance, visited a US military base there in March.
Macron, the first foreign leader to visit Greenland since Trump’s explicit threats to “get” the island, was invited by the prime ministers of Greenland and Denmark. He has said his visit is meant to prevent any “preying” on the territory.
“France has stood by us since the first statements about taking our land emerged. This support is both necessary and gratifying,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen wrote on Facebook days ahead of Macron’s visit.
Asked if Macron would deliver an explicit message to the United States during his visit, an adviser to Macron told reporters: “The trip is a signal in itself,” without mentioning Trump.
According to an IFOP poll for NYC.eu published on Saturday, 77 per cent of the French and 56 per cent of Americans disapprove of an annexation of Greenland by the US. And 43 per cent of the French would approve using French military power to prevent a US invasion.
Macron will visit the capital Nuuk, as well as a hydropower station funded by the EU and a glacier, and discuss Arctic security and climate change with his hosts.
Though Denmark is an EU member, Greenland is outside the bloc. The French adviser said the visit will be an opportunity to discuss how to give Greenland’s association partnership with the EU a “new dimension”.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made several visits to Paris after Trump’s threats to seek French and European backing, and has placed orders for French-made surface-to-air missiles, in a shift of focus for Copenhagen.
Enlisting the EU’s only nuclear power is a way for Denmark, long one of Washington’s most loyal allies in Europe, to project a form of hard power towards a suddenly more aggressive United States, Florian Vidal of the Paris-based IFRI think-tank said.
“The Trump administration’s more aggressive posture is a shock that makes the French vision of Europe, one that is more autonomous, appear more reasonable for Denmark,” he said. “From a Nordic point of view, France is a military power that counts.”