"It's one step forward, one step back in Europe's relations with the US. Just hours after the Coalition of the Willing made a big step towards providing Ukraine with long-awaited security guarantees with potential UK and French troops deployments and all briefly seemed to be going in the right direction once again, the White House said that using US military is always an option for acquiring Greenland."
"The comments came just hours after a number of European allies issued a stern statement backing Denmark and Greenland, as they continue to oppose Donald Trump's plan. Denmark held an emergency meeting of the foreign affairs committee last night to discuss its next steps. Overnight, the Wall Street Journal reported ($) that US state secretary Marco Rubio told lawmakers that Trump's preferred option was to buy Greenland from Denmark, and not invade it, but I am not entirely sure if that will convince anyone in Copenhagen about the merits of the proposal."
"This morning, the French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that having spoken to US Rubio last night, he was also confident that a Venezuela-like scenario would not materialise in Greenland. For now. But he confirmed that France was working with partners on a plan on how to respond should the US act on its threat to move to take over Greenland, with the issue expected to come up at today's ministerial meeting with his counterparts from Germany and Poland."
Europe experienced mixed diplomatic signals: a Coalition of the Willing moved toward providing Ukraine with security guarantees including potential UK and French troop deployments. Hours later the White House said using US military remained an option to acquire Greenland, triggering alarm among European allies. Several allies issued a stern statement backing Denmark and Greenland and Denmark convened an emergency foreign affairs committee meeting. Reports said Marco Rubio told lawmakers the preferred option was to buy Greenland rather than invade. France said it was coordinating a response with partners and raised the issue with Germany and Poland. EU-Mercosur talks resumed and winter weather caused widespread flight cancellations and delays.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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