Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has fiercely denounced Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, warning that the US president was becoming a “monster” by pressuring Denmark to relinquish control of the mineral-rich Arctic territory.
In blistering remarks delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, De Wever said that he would personally tell Trump he was “crossing red lines” during a planned meeting with his American counterpart at the Swiss resort town tomorrow.
“Until now, we tried to appease the new president in the White House,” De Wever said, pointing to last year’s EU-US trade deal that many have criticised as tantamount to Brussels’ capitulation to Washington.
“But now so many red lines are being crossed. Being a happy vassal is one thing. Being a miserable slave is something else,” he added.
The Belgian premier’s comments contrast starkly with those of other European leaders, many of whom have sought to downplay Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of up to 25% on multiple EU nations until they agree to the “complete and total purchase” of Greenland by the US.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni – whose Brothers of Italy party sits in the same right-wing European parliamentary group as De Wever’s New Flemish Alliance – has described the US president’s threat as a “mistake” that resulted from a lack of “understanding and communication” over some EU capitals’ recent decision to send troops to Greenland.
De Wever – a fierce Atlanticist who supports the independence of Belgium’s Dutch-speaking northern region – also warned that the EU could “explode in any possible direction” if it failed to stand up to Trump, who is set to deliver a highly anticipated speech at Davos tomorrow.
“We either stand together or we will stand divided. And if we are divided, there is the end of an era; eighty years of Atlanticism are really drawing to a close,” De Wever said.
De Wever, a fierce anti-Communist, also cited 20th-Century Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s adage that “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters”.
“It’s up to [Trump] to decide if he wants to be a monster,” De Wever said.
(cs)