Macron arrives in Greenland
French President Emmanuel Macron and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are visiting autonomous Greenland, the Danish public broadcaster DR reported. The visit comes at a time when tensions between the United States, Greenland and Denmark are still high over US President Donald Trump's bid to annex the island.
"I arrived in Greenland with a message of solidarity, support and friendship," Macron said upon arrival.
The French president said he was "very happy to be here and to gain an understanding of all the issues," and cited climate change and economic development as examples. The politician did not mention the United States or Trump directly, but DR notes that the visit is "a direct response to Donald Trump's threats to seize" Greenland. Other Western media outlets have also reported this.
Macron, Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Fredrik Nielsen arrived for a working meeting on board the Niels Juel, one of three Iver Huitfeld-class frigates of the Danish Armed Forces. They are the kingdom's largest and most powerful warships.
Since Macron became president eight years ago, he has been working hard to make France and Europe more independent from the United States, both in security and economic terms.
France also has its own strong commitments to the Arctic: the country has pledged to invest one billion euros in polar research by 2030.
France is also one of six countries that do not belong to this region but are permanent observers in the Arctic Council.
This is a high-level intergovernmental forum whose members are the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark (also representing Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
- On April 25, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives said that the US Congress is unlikely to support any invasion of Greenland.
- On May 7, Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen summoned the American ambassador after The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the US was increasing intelligence activities in Greenland.
