<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asserted, at the conclusion of the informal European Council meeting held this Thursday in Brussels, that it was “the firmness and unity of the European Union and its member states” that “forced” US President Donald Trump to back down from his pressure on Greenland. This, in his view, reflects that “Europe has the instruments to respond with due proportionality to this type of coercion.”</strong></h4> “We have addressed this European Council meeting in an extraordinarily complex international context,” Sánchez declared at the subsequent press conference. “We have to face reality, and the reality is that the US government is not respecting international law and is straining, as never before, the transatlantic relationship between the United States of America and the European Union,” he added. “Given this, I believe there should be no doubt: Europe must strengthen itself internally and also open itself up to other parts of the world,” he warned. “Strengthening ourselves internally means deepening the single market, reinforcing our competitiveness and technology, but also social cohesion and political unity, and, of course, in the area of defense and security, what we Europeans must do is invest better and together,” he continued. “The Spanish government has always maintained that if there isn't unity among the 27 member states regarding this integration process, then we should proceed at different speeds. But it's high time that Europe made the decision to integrate all those policies that can give us weight and a clear, influential voice in a changing geopolitical context,” he insisted. The European Council meeting took place a day after US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a preliminary agreement to establish a framework for a future agreement on Greenland and the Arctic region. The US president also announced via his social media account, Truth Social, that he would not follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on several European countries if an agreement on the purchase of Greenland was not reached. According to Sánchez, “the firmness and unity of the European Union and its member states has forced the US administration to back down.” “We are the world’s leading trading power and we must act accordingly. Faced with coercion and attempted coercion, Europe has the instruments to respond with due proportionality,” he asserted. In any case, he affirmed, “we must, with loyalty, build a positive agenda between the European Union and the United States, but always based on dialogue and mutual respect.” In any case, Sánchez warned that the EU still does not know the terms of the supposed agreement between Trump and Rutte. “Those who need to know are, obviously, the Danish Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Greenland,” but “hopefully we can trust that an agreement can indeed be reached that satisfies the legitimate demands for sovereignty and respect for the territorial integrity of the people of Greenland and also of the Kingdom of Denmark.” The informal meeting of the members of the European Council began with a message of condolence from the President of the European Council, António Costa, on behalf of all the leaders, addressed to the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, for the victims of the recent train accidents in Spain. Following this message, the European leaders observed a minute of silence in respect for the victims. <h5><strong>Albares in Davos: “It’s just an announcement”</strong></h5> For his part, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares warned this Thursday before the World Economic Forum in Davos that the principle of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states is “non-negotiable” and expressed Spain’s solidarity with Denmark. “The Greenlanders want to remain part of Denmark, they want to remain part of a member state of the European Union,” he insisted. In his subsequent statements to the press, Albares also declined to comment on the alleged preliminary agreement between Trump and Rutte. “We know nothing more than the announcement made yesterday,” he stated. “I have also been speaking with other foreign ministers from other NATO allies and they don’t have exactly the same information,” he added. In any case, he warned, “regardless of what other actors may say or what other countries, other NATO allies, may think, the important thing is that sovereignty and decisions about the future of Greenland can only be made by Danes and Greenlanders, and if there are new threats in the Arctic, new security needs, the Arctic is also part of Euro-Atlantic security.”
