France’s top diplomat has fired a warning shot across the bows of Donald Trump, warning Europe considers Greenland part of its “sovereign borders” and should be left alone. European leaders are reacting with alarm as past and future President Donald Trump talks up the importance of the United States acquiring Greenland, the world’s largest island and a strategically valuable if underdeveloped Arctic territory in the North Atlantic.
As Trump’s son flew into Greenland on the Trump jet this week the French foreign minister has appeared to tacitly put the notion of the United States buying territory off an ally on a par, ethically, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it an affront to sovereign borders. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told radio station France Inter he considers Greenland to be “a territory of the European Union.” He said the French government’s position is it is “out of the question that the European Union could let other nations of the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders”. Trump has not brought up the prospect of military action over Greenland himself, but in response to a question from a journalist said he wouldn’t rule anything out. Indeed, Barrot said he didn’t actually believe Trump would use military force against a NATO ally but said such conversations were evidence the world was moving into a less secure era. He said: “If you’re asking me whether I think the United States will invade Greenland, my answer is no. But have we entered into a period of time when it is survival of the fittest? Then my answer is yes”. Greenland’s relationship with the European Union is relatively complex. It joined the European Community in the 1970s alongside Denmark before it gained partial independence known as home rule