France’s foreign minister has arrived in Greenland to express his nation’s “solidarity” with the Danish autonomous territory, the ministry said, after US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wanted the US to take over the island.
French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot’s two-day visit over the weekend came days after Danish public television reported that at least three US officials close to Trump had been in Greenland trying to identify people they could use in anti-Denmark influence campaigns.
Denmark summoned the US charge d’affaires on Wednesday after the report of the interference operation aimed at gathering information on issues that have created tension between Greenland and Denmark.
Photo: AFP
France’s foreign ministry said Barrot’s trip would “demonstrate France’s solidarity with Denmark, Greenland and the Greenlandic people in the face of current challenges,” according to a statement.
The foreign minister visited a French naval vessel, the BSAM Garonne, in the port of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, on Saturday.
“These regions are certainly remote, but they are now affected by a form of conflict, a new form of aggression, which is why France, a major maritime power, is present there today,” Barrot said.
He was yesterday after press time to meet with Greenland Minister of Foreign Affairs, Business and Trade Vivian Motzfeldt, and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, before holding a press conference.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Greenland in June, expressing European solidarity with its people and criticizing Trump’s threat to annex the Arctic territory.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly said the US needs strategically located, resource-rich Greenland for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.
Both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the island is not for sale and that it would decide its future itself.
Most of Greenland’s 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark, according to a January poll, but do not wish to become part of the US.
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