French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot has warned Donald Trump against threatening the “sovereign borders” of the European Union after the US President-elect refused to rule out military action to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the EU member Denmark.
Speaking to a French news agency, Barrot asserted, “There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders.”
He added that, while he did not believe the US “would invade” Greenland, “we have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest.”
Barrot insisted that the EU should not allow itself to be intimidated, and rather, that it “should wake up and strengthen” to a new and concerning era.
In an hour-long press conference on Tuesday, Trump refused to rule out using military force to take the Panama canal and Greenland and suggested he intended to use “economic force” to make Canada part of the US.
His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, flew to Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, on what he called a private visit shortly after the comments. He remained a few hours and said he did not intend to meet government officials.
Last month, Trump, who takes office on January 20, 2025, noted that US control of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for America’s “economic security.”
Greenland, an autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark that was granted home rule in 1979, has informed Trump it is not for sale.
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, and Múte Egede, Greenland’s PM, have both said it is for Greenlanders to decide their future. “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either. Greenland belongs to the Greelanders,” Frederiksen said.
Greenland, which has a population of about 57,000 people, is the world’s biggest island. Since 2009 it has had the right to hold a referendum to decide whether it wishes to be independent. Egede is a member of the pro-independence Community of the People (IA) party.
Egede said last week that Greenland “is not for sale and will never be for sale.”
EU Urged To Resist Threats From Elon Musk
Moreover, Barrot urged the EU to resist threats from Elon Musk against a number of European leaders, notably Germany’s Social Democrat Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
“If the European Commission does not know how to protect us against this interference or these threats of interference then it must give member states, including France, the ability to protect itself.”
Jean-Noël Barrot
Musk, who has secured unprecedented influence thanks to his proximity to US president-elect Donald Trump, is set for a role in Trump’s administration.
He has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “When you take part in a government or aspire to take part in one, your opinions have a rather special value,” Barrot stressed.
This came after several European leaders expressed growing frustration against the tech mogul including French President Emmanuel Macron who said that Musk was “directly intervening in elections.”
Macron said in a speech to French ambassadors, “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany.”
German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz also condemned the Tesla CEO for backing an extreme-right party.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store expressed concern saying that it was “worrying” that someone wealthy and influential was involving themselves in European politics.
