<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>US President Donald Trump promised Wednesday in Davos that his country will not use force to invade Greenland, but insisted that Washington remains prepared to acquire the island “with full right and ownership” to guarantee “security.” Hours earlier, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares warned from Delhi that “Greenlanders want to remain part of Denmark” and that the territorial integrity of states “is a basic principle of the Charter of the United Nations.”</strong></h4> In his speech before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump insisted that control of Greenland is a “core US national security interest” and, therefore, the US needs this territory “for strategic national security and international security.” “This enormous, unprotected, unsecured island is actually part of North America” and is “defenseless in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia, and China,” he declared. “It’s our territory,” he insisted. “All we’re asking for is to obtain Greenland, with full right and ownership, so we can defend it,” he added. He also asserted that the interest in Greenland has nothing to do with rare earth elements: “You have to get through hundreds of meters of ice. That’s not why we need it.” In any case, Trump assured that the US will not use force to seize Greenland, although he warned that NATO should not stand in the way of Washington’s intentions. The Alliance members “can say yes, and we’ll be very grateful, or they can say no, and we’ll remember that,” he stated. The US president also asserted that his goal is to begin “immediate negotiations” on the purchase of Greenland by the United States, after threatening this past Saturday to impose new tariffs on the eight European countries that have sent troops to the island at Denmark's request, including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. “I love Europe and I want to see it prosper, but it's not going in the right direction,” he stated. In contrast, “when the United States prospers, the whole world prospers,” he added. “Without us, most countries wouldn't even function,” he added. <h5><strong>Albares</strong></h5> Hours earlier, Albares told the press from India, where he was on an official visit this Wednesday, that “the Greenlanders are the only ones who can decide the future of Greenland, together with the Danes.” “The Greenlanders want to remain part of Denmark, they want to remain part of a member state of the European Union, and that is the position that Spain fully supports,” he insisted. “The sovereignty of states, respect for their territorial integrity, is an absolutely fundamental principle of international relations. It is a basic principle of the Charter of the United Nations, and Spain, of course, supports it,” he added. Albares made these statements in response to a question about the Extraordinary Council meeting that the EU will hold this Thursday to address the situation in Greenland. “The reflection we Europeans must make is that Europe, at this moment when the world has changed, has the capacity to have a strong voice in foreign policy, both in trade and economic relations and in its own security and deterrence,” he stated. “Therefore, the only thing we need at this time is also the political will to act in foreign policy,” he added. “We must make it clear to the whole world that we believe in free trade and that we have the instruments of deterrence to protect ourselves from any commercial or economic coercion,” and, regarding security, “we must make it clear that Europe is a continent of peace and that we will not allow anyone to bring war to our continent because deterrence is in our hands,” he warned.
