French President Emmanuel Macron said Greenland “belonged to the EU”, while officials and diplomats in Brussels are wrapping their heads over whether the Union’s defence clause covers the island.
Europeans have a “specific responsibility” in Greenland, the French president said on Thursday. “Because it belongs to the European Union, it is also the territory of one of our NATO allies.”
Macron’s comments were made during an address to French armed forces stationed at the Istres air basis in the country’s south. It followed his convening of an emergency defence cabinet meeting in Paris to discuss US President Donald Trump’s latest push to acquire the island.
However, his comments do not necessarily match the position of the European Commission, considered the ‘guardian’ of the EU Treaty.
Officials in Brussels have so far sent mixed signals over whether Greenland is covered by the EU Treaty’s mutual defence clause, Article 42.7, were the US to invade the Arctic island.
Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said the clause would “definitely” apply if the US attacked Greenland, but Commission President Ursula von der Leyen refused to confirm it.
The minerals-rich island is part of the Danish kingdom but is not formally an EU member, and exited its predecessor, the European Economic Community in 1985.
Macron added that French troops sent to Greenland will be backed up by “land, air and sea means,” but did not elaborate on what scale those capabilities would be deployed.
The announcement of French support to Greenland comes as Sweden, Germany, and the UK all announced that they would contribute to the on Wednesday joined Swedish, German and British efforts in contributing to the Denmark-led Arctic Endurance military exercise in Greenland.
So far, France has dispatched 15 soldiers to Nuuk.
Denmark started sending military personnel to Greenland for national security purposes after US President Donald Trump revived his expansionist stance vis-à-vis Greenland in early-January.
(cp)