US places European alliances in danger by threatening to annex Greenland, senior Danish lawmaker says
Again to Greenland, Rasmus Jarlov, chair of Denmark’s defence committee, appeared on CNN final night time, providing his tackle the US plans for Greenland.
In stark feedback, he stated:
“We will’t do it. We can’t hand over 57,000 of our residents to turn out to be People in opposition to their will.”
He was additionally requested if he may envision a situation the place the US tries to make use of power to assert Greenland from Denmark.
“I actually hope not, however that’s as much as the American authorities. We’re not going to again down. We’re not going handy over Greenland, no matter what kind of stress is utilized to us.”
He then went additional:
“There’s a lot at stake right here, as a result of this isn’t solely a matter of being cheap to Denmark and Greenland.
Additionally it is a matter of your complete western alliance. No person’s going to be allied to a rustic that tries to annex components of that nation’s territory.
So if the US desires to be a worldwide chief, and we’ve been very completely happy to let the US lead the world, however then you need to behave. You’ll be able to’t simply assault your allies and attempt to take their territory whereas on the identical time making an attempt to assist Russia to achieve extra territory in Europe.”
Key occasions
Greenland events signal coalition settlement to type new authorities – video
As reported earlier (10:11), 4 of the 5 events within the new Greenlandic parliament are set to signal a coalition settlement to type the subsequent authorities right now.
The occasion is simply beginning now and you may watch it together with us right here:
Greenland events anticipated to signal coalition settlement in Nuuk – watch stay
JD Vance anticipated to talk at Pituffik House Base this afternoon – media experiences
Making a number of the Danish fears come true (8:23), it seems that US vice-president JD Vance may communicate later from the Pituffik House Base, Greenland, in accordance with the Danish broadcaster TV2 reporting a discover from the European Broadcasting Union.
The speech is predicted 5.45pm GMT (6.45pm CET), in accordance with the report.
I’ll look out for official affirmation.
Connection to Pituffik re-restablished, Tussas tells Guardian
Tussas has simply confirmed to the Guardian that “all connections are re-established,” and defined the very temporary technical problem was do to with an influence outage at Pituffik.
However it’s all again and working now.
Strains down in Putiffik, Greenlandic telecoms firm says
In a improvement that will or will not be associated to JD Vance’s go to, the Greenlandic telecommunications operator Tusass has simply stated that “all communication to Pituffik is down”.
“The investigation has been initiated and we are attempting to re-establish the connection as quickly as attainable,” it added in a buyer replace on its web site.
Pituffik is the place the US base that Vance is because of go to is situated.
JD Vance’s aircraft left for Greenland this morning and, as reported by CBS Information senior White Home reporter Jennifer Jacobs, scheduled to journey with him and his spouse, Usha, have been:
US vice-president JD Vance and Second Woman Usha Vance board Air Power Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. {Photograph}: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Pictures
US places European alliances in danger by threatening to annex Greenland, senior Danish lawmaker says
Again to Greenland, Rasmus Jarlov, chair of Denmark’s defence committee, appeared on CNN final night time, providing his tackle the US plans for Greenland.
In stark feedback, he stated:
“We will’t do it. We can’t hand over 57,000 of our residents to turn out to be People in opposition to their will.”
He was additionally requested if he may envision a situation the place the US tries to make use of power to assert Greenland from Denmark.
“I actually hope not, however that’s as much as the American authorities. We’re not going to again down. We’re not going handy over Greenland, no matter what kind of stress is utilized to us.”
He then went additional:
“There’s a lot at stake right here, as a result of this isn’t solely a matter of being cheap to Denmark and Greenland.
Additionally it is a matter of your complete western alliance. No person’s going to be allied to a rustic that tries to annex components of that nation’s territory.
So if the US desires to be a worldwide chief, and we’ve been very completely happy to let the US lead the world, however then you need to behave. You’ll be able to’t simply assault your allies and attempt to take their territory whereas on the identical time making an attempt to assist Russia to achieve extra territory in Europe.”
The French far-right chief Marine Le Pen, who’s going through a verdict on Monday within the case involving her social gathering’s alleged misuse of European funds for parliamentary assistants, had hoped {that a} ruling right now from the French Constitutional Council in a special case would enhance her hopes of avoiding a attainable quick ban on working for public workplace.
Le Pen pictured in court docket final yr. {Photograph}: Cyril Pecquenard/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
Nonetheless, right now’s ruling has simply dropped and it seems to be unlikely to have a major affect on any sentence Le Pen could or could not obtain on Monday.
Contemplating a case involving an area councillor handed a ban with quick software – not suspended till the attraction is set – the council discovered it constitutional. Regardless of Le Pen allies’ hopes, nonetheless, it didn’t develop its evaluation to cowl broader questions concerning the so-called ineligibility bans.
Throughout Le Pen’s trial, the prosecution requested a €300,000 tremendous, 5 years in jail and an ineligibility sentence with quick software, which might rule her out of the 2027 presidential elections in France.
Addressing the trial final autumn Le Pen stated she was harmless. “I’ve completely no sense of getting dedicated the slightest irregularity, or the slightest unlawful act,” she stated.
4 Greenlandic events set to signal coalition settlement right now
4 of the 5 events within the Greenlandic parliament will signal a coalition settlement right now, in an obvious present of unity within the face of US curiosity within the island, native media reported.
Jens Frederik Nielsen, chief of the Democrats, addresses the gang as round 1,000 Greenlanders collect within the metropolis middle and march to the US consulate constructing situated on the outskirts of the town to protesting US president Donald Trump’s latest remarks on the sovereignty of their nation, in Nuuk, Greenland. {Photograph}: Anadolu/Getty Pictures
The settlement might be signed at 11am native time (1pm GMT, 2pm CET), with the brand new authorities accountable for 23 out of 31 mandates within the new parliament.
The presumed subsequent prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s plans to take management of the island, telling Sky Information:
“We don’t wish to be People. No, we don’t wish to be Danes. We wish to be Greenlanders, and we wish our personal independence sooner or later. … And we wish to construct our personal nation by ourselves.”
Solely probably the most ardently pro-independence social gathering, Naleraq, which got here second in elections earlier this month is not going to be a part of the coalition, after dropping out of talks final week.
‘Welcome to the highest of the world’ – location
Miranda Bryant
A view of Pituffik House Base (previously Thule Air Base) in Greenland in 2023. {Photograph}: Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters
When JD Vance and his delegation contact down at Pituffik house base in Greenland on Friday, they are going to be greeted by the phrases: “Welcome to the highest of the world.”
Greenland locator
In addition to being the US’s most northerly army base – and its just one on the huge Arctic island – it is usually among the many world’s most remoted locations.
For 9 months of the yr, the bottom (previously often called Thule airbase) in north-western Greenland is locked in by ice, though it stays accessible by aircraft all year long. For 3 months there isn’t a daylight.
The strategically essential website – about 932 miles (1,500km) from Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, 750 miles (1,207km) north of the Arctic Circle, and throughout Baffin Bay from Nunavut in Canada – performs a vital function in US missile detection.
House to an upgraded early warning radar weapon system that may detect ballistic missiles, the bottom additionally screens house for particles from decommissioned satellites and is house to the world’s most northerly deep-water port.
JD Vance to face frosty reception in Greenland – evaluation
Miranda Bryant
Danish, Greenlandic and US flags fly on the Danish armed forces’ Arctic Command in Nuuk, Greenland. {Photograph}: Leonhard Föger/Reuters
The go to to Pituffik, a distant ice-locked US army base in northwestern Greenland, might be intently watched by leaders in Nuuk and Copenhagen, who’ve aired their opposition to the journey amid ongoing threats by Donald Trump to amass Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
“It’s protected to say we might somewhat not have him [Vance] in Greenland,” a authorities supply in Copenhagen stated.
The temper in Copenhagen was understood to be apprehensive. On Thursday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen stated: “Greenland is a part of the Danish kingdom. That’s not going to alter.”
In the meantime Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s minister for international affairs, stated Vance wouldn’t be greeted by Danish politicians at Pituffik as a result of “it has nothing to do with us”.
“That is about an American vice-president who’s going to go to his personal army set up in Greenland. It has nothing to do with us,” he stated.
Morning opening: You are (not) welcome right here
In regular instances, a go to by a US vice-president can be actively sought by many allied nations as a helpful present of shut relations with Washington.
However today are gone. When JD Vance touches down at Pituffik house base in Greenland within the afternoon, there might be no Danish representatives to welcome him there, and so they have been open about the truth that he’s, the truth is, not welcome there, not less than not anyplace exterior the US base.
Folks participate in an illustration in entrance of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, on 15 March 2025. {Photograph}: Christian Klindt Soelbeck/EPA
However then, these usually are not regular instances, and it isn’t tough to see why Danish politicians usually are not enthusiastic about more and more thinly veiled threats of US plans to take management over Greenland – even in opposition to the desire of its folks.
It marks a dramatic shift from the shut alliance between Denmark and the US, as Copenhagen now faces what nonetheless seems like a surreal situation of getting to defend part of their nation – which repeatedly confirmed little interest in turning into part of the US – from the more and more assertive US administration.
Earlier this week, US president Donald Trump stated:
“It’s an island that from a defensive posture, and even offensive posture, is one thing we want, particularly with the world the best way it’s, and we’re going to must have it.”
“So, I feel we’ll go so far as we’ve got to go. We’d like Greenland and the world wants us to have Greenland, together with Denmark.”
These phrases will inevitably body the best way right now’s go to might be perceived in Europe. A supply within the Danish authorities is quoted in right now’s Berlingske as worrying that Denmark may face its model of “the Crimea script,” a reference to the Russian unlawful occupation of the Ukrainian territory in 2014.
“For Denmark, that is the largest international coverage disaster for the reason that second world struggle,” Jon Rahbek Clemmensen, Head of Analysis on the Heart for Arctic Safety Research of the Royal Danish Defence Faculty, instructed TV2.
There are nonetheless many unknowns concerning the programme of the go to – there are solely so many issues you are able to do in one of many world’s most remoted locations – however Copenhagen significantly fears that Vance may use the journey to ship a speech furthering the US claims to Greenland. He has a type with provocative speeches in Europe, in spite of everything.
Regardless of earlier experiences, the US vice-president may nonetheless be joined by senior officers, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and power secretary Chris Wright, highlighting the unusually excessive profile of the go to.
Let’s see.
However it’s maybe not a coincidence that it’s additionally that right now that 4 of the 5 events within the new Greenlandic parliament – all besides probably the most pro-independence, pro-American Naleraq – are planning to announce the formation of a brand new authorities, simply hours earlier than Vance will get to the island.
I’ll carry you all the important thing updates on this all through the day and extra tales from France, Germany, and throughout Europe.
It’s Friday, 28 March 2025, and that is Europe stay. It’s Jakub Krupa right here.
