<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Defense Minister Margarita Robles has warned that the European Union “cannot be a secondary actor” and must show “leadership” in the face of US President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland.</strong></h4> “The EU cannot be a secondary actor at all. The EU has a political, security, and defense dimension that perhaps has not been sufficiently developed until now,” the minister declared this Wednesday, January 14, during a meeting with the media at the Army Headquarters. “At this moment, all I can say is that the European Union must react,” because “we are living in very complicated times in which international law is being violated,” she continued. Therefore, she warned, “it is time for the European Union to take the lead,” and, should the United States decide to invade Greenland, a territory under Danish sovereignty, the EU must “apply the corresponding legal instruments.” In any case, Robles acknowledged that she finds it “hardly conceivable and hardly acceptable that a NATO member country” like the United States “could carry out an act contrary to the territorial integrity of another member country, because then it not only goes against International Law, but we would also be legitimizing other conduct.” The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated this Wednesday that she remains in “constant contact” with Denmark to understand “its needs,” but did not specify whether the EU is obligated to apply Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, which establishes mutual defense and provides for assistance in the event of a military attack on a member state. Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that US control of Greenland is "vital" to the "Golden Dome" he is building, a missile defense shield similar to Israel's "Iron Dome," which was unveiled by the White House in May 2025. "The US needs Greenland as part of its national security," he asserted. "NATO would be much more formidable and effective with Greenland in US hands," he added. Meanwhile, according to a report Wednesday by Danish public broadcaster DR, the Danish government (a NATO member state) has reinforced its military presence in Greenland by sending an advance team to prepare for the arrival of more troops to the autonomous territory. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, and Greenland's top diplomat, Vivian Motzfeldt, will meet at the White House on Wednesday to try to ease tensions. This Tuesday, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares insisted that “Greenland is part of Denmark’s territorial integrity, Denmark is a European partner that has our full solidarity, and the future of Greenland can only be determined by Greenlanders and Danes.”
