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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, pictured on January 3, 2025, said the EU would not tolerate attacks on its territory after Donald Trump called on the United States to take the control of Greenland.
Omar Haj Kadour | Afp | Getty Images
The European Union will not tolerate attacks on its borders, France’s foreign minister said Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump reiterated that put Greenland under US control is a “necessity.”
In one interview with the radio station France Inter, Jean-Noël Barrot said that the 27 member states of the bloc will never accept any attempt to attack the territory of the EU.
Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory, making it an Overseas Country and Territory (OCT) associated with the EU.
“There is no doubt that the European Union will let another nation of the world, whatever it is – and I would also say, starting with Russia – to attack its sovereign borders,” Barrot said, according to a CNBC translation. “We are a strong continent, we need to strengthen more.”
CNBC has reached out to the European Union for comment.
Barrot added that he did not believe Washington would launch a physical attack on Greenland.
“If you ask me if I think the United States will invade Greenland, the answer is no,” he explained. “But have we entered an era that sees the survival of the fittest? The answer is yes.”
Barrot’s comments come before a meeting between the Prime Minister of Greenland, Múte Egede, and the Danish king in Copenhagen, expected to be at 2 pm Danish time. No agenda for the talks was provided, but the meeting is being held in the same week that King Frederik updated his royal coat of arms to incorporate details representing Greenland.
The changes were made after renewed calls from the president of the United States that America should bring Greenland, an arctic island with a population of more than 56,000, under the control of the United States.
Last month, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “ownership” of Greenland was crucial to the national and economic security of the United States. In 2019, he floated the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark, during his first term as president – a notion that was firmly rejected from the leadership of the territory.
Danish and Greenlandic leaders have again rejected the idea that the island could join the United States under a second Trump administration, with Egede repeating last month, “We are not for sale.”
What you do it didn’t stop Trump’s pursuit of territory. The president-elect has issued threats that economic force could be used to materialize his repeated calls for a shutdown, while his son Donald Trump Jr. landed on the island Tuesday to make an unofficial visit.
