Trump seizing Greenland would put "severe pressure" on NATO, European security: Dutch PM

Prime Minister Dick Schoof has a bleak outlook for NATO and European security if the United States seizes Greenland from Denmark. “They will then come under very severe pressure, yes,” he said after new American threats. “Allies don’t treat each other like that.”

The Prime Minister of Denmark, the NATO member country to which Greenland belongs, warned on Monday that an American annexation of the strategically located island would mean the end of the alliance. European countries, including the Netherlands, expressed their support for Denmark earlier in the day. They rebuked the United States, without explicitly attacking it.

France previously suggested stationing European troops in Greenland, but Schoof declined to comment on that idea. Schoof spoke to the press at the summit of Ukrainian allies in Paris on Tuesday.

According to Schoof, the United States still wants to help protect Ukraine after the war. The American delegation, attending for the first time, did not sign the Coalition of the Willing’s agreements, and the U.S. no longer treats Ukraine and Europe as allies through thick and thin. But there is “no reason whatsoever” to doubt American support,” Schoof said after the summit.

At the summit, France and the United Kingdom signed a commitment to send troops to Ukraine as soon as the war ends. Belgium also said it wanted to send troops. The Netherlands has not yet promised a concrete contribution to protecting Ukraine, Schoof said.

The leaders of the Coalition of the Willing have been working on “security guarantees” for Ukraine for almost a year and wanted to make them more concrete at the summit. But promising contributions like planned troop deployment are difficult for many because they need parliamentary approval.

The non-partisan Schoof, the caretaker Prime Minister of a twice-collapsed Cabinet, stressed that the Dutch parliament and even the Cabinet itself still have to decide. He did, however, call several party leaders to update them, he said. With such big decisions, the Cabinet often gauges support.