{"id":594224,"date":"2026-09-08T19:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/594224\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:50:18","slug":"eu-seeks-to-reassure-a-trump-rattled-greenland-with-partnership-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/594224\/","title":{"rendered":"EU seeks to reassure a Trump-rattled Greenland with partnership promise"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Union today sought to reassure a jittery Greenland with the promise of a stronger partnership and hundreds of millions of euros in investment following repeated threats from US President Donald Trump to take control of the island.<\/a><\/p>\n

During a visit to the capital Nuuk, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered 200 million euros (NZ$395 million) in support over the next two years to help Greenland tackle climate change, boost internet connections and improve hydropower plants, fisheries and education.<\/p>\n

The EU has increased its focus on Greenland since Trump began insisting that the United States should take control of the island for security reasons. His persistent claims raised sovereignty concerns and pushback from Greenlandic and Danish leaders<\/a> and heightened tensions among NATO allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreenland\u2019s future is for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide. No one else,\u201d von der Leyen said. \u201cTerritorial integrity, sovereignty, the inviolability of borders. These are fundamental principles of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Denmark's<\/p>\n

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, left, and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, visit the company Eutelsat OneWeb in Nuuk, Greenland (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

EU promises money for Greenland’s development<\/p>\n

Funds are also earmarked for better housing, support to small businesses and sustainable tourism. Von der Leyen also said that she wants to double EU budget support to Greenland to around half a billion euros (NZ$988 million) from 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreenland can count on the EU,\u201d she said, after signing an EU-Greenland declaration with Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.<\/p>\n

Nielsen described the 27-nation EU as \u201ca loyal and trusted friend,\u201d notably at a time when the island faces \u201cnew challenges that we cannot tackle alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough these challenging times, your support to us is unfailing,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have stood by us and continue to stand by us. We feel it and are deeply grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Denmark’s<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, second left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, second right, visit a ship (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Denmark and European allies resist Trump\u2019s pressure<\/p>\n

The Trump administration also leaned on Denmark. \u201cWe have been under pressure,” Frederiksen told reporters. “It has been very clear, and we are very thankful for the great support we have received from our European partners but, by the way, also globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark and seven of its European allies sent a small group of military personnel to the island in January, publicly for military exercises focused on strengthening Arctic security, but with the intention of showing support for Greenland\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

In response, Trump threatened to slap new tariffs<\/a> on them all: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. They condemned the move as undermining trans-Atlantic relations, and Trump eventually backed down after NATO agreed to boost security in the Arctic region.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen\u2019s visit came as 11 NATO countries began military exercises in Greenland on Monday involving around 400 military personnel, including special forces troops trained to operate in Arctic conditions from Canada, Denmark and Finland. No US troops are taking part in the Arctic Shield drills, which run Sept. 7-18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union today sought to reassure a jittery Greenland with the promise of a stronger partnership and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,43,64,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-594224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}