Brussels, Jan 15, (dpa/GNA) – Germany and the other EU states could be required to provide assistance at Denmark’s request, in the event of a violent conflict over Greenland, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.
The comments came after inconclusive talks in Washington on Wednesday.
Greenland is part of the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO member, and therefore in principle falls under the mutual solidarity clause in Article 42(7) of the EU treaty, the spokeswoman told dpa.
At the same time, she emphasized that the question of applying it is not now on the table since a military confrontation with the United States is considered very unlikely because presumably no one would take on the world’s most powerful military power.
US President Donald Trump wants to incorporate the vast, resource-rich island into the United States, saying the US needs to own the country for its security needs, which he sees as being threatened by China and Russia.
The Europeans want to convince Trump that Greenland can be best protected within NATO.
GNA