{"id":442487,"date":"2026-01-05T17:26:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/01\/05\/trump-sfida-nato-e-unione-europea-la-groenlandia-nel-mirino-dopo-caracas\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T17:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:57:48","slug":"trump-challenges-nato-and-eu-greenland-in-crosshairs-after-caracas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/01\/05\/trump-challenges-nato-and-eu-greenland-in-crosshairs-after-caracas\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump challenges NATO and EU: Greenland in crosshairs after Caracas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"my-2 [&amp;+p]:mt-4 [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:pb-2\">Brussels &#8211; After forcibly removing Venezuelan president <strong>Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/strong>, the United States is targeting&nbsp;<strong>Greenland<\/strong>, an autonomous territory of the Danish crown. The scenario is not hypothetical, and the threats, voiced tonight aboard Air Force One by US President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong>, are not veiled: &#8216;<strong>We need Greenland from a national security perspective, and Denmark will not be able to deal with it<\/strong>.&#8221; To be called into question is the European Union itself, which according to Trump &#8220;<strong>needs us to have Greenland<\/strong>.&#8221; An unexplained need that has alarmed European chancelleries.<\/p>\n<h3 id='the-contested-island'  id=\"boomdevs_1\">The Contested Island<\/h3>\n<p class=\"my-2 [&amp;+p]:mt-4 [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:pb-2\">The prime minister of the &#8220;green island&#8221;, <strong>Jens Frederik Nielsen<\/strong>, who certainly does not want to end up like Maduro, is in the worst position. Since taking office in March, he has had to face repeated questioning of his sovereignty. &#8220;<strong>No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation<\/strong>. We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussion. But this must take place through the appropriate channels and in accordance with international law,&#8221; Nielsen wrote on Facebook. He was echoed by Danish Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/05\/world\/europe\/trump-greenland-denmark.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mette Frederiksen<\/strong><\/a>, who recalled that it is &#8220;<strong>absolutely absurd to say that the US should take control of Greenland<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_437161\" style=\"width: 780px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008_EP-191454A_DLL_390-THUMBNAIL.avif\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-437161\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008_EP-191454A_DLL_390-THUMBNAIL-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Greenlandia\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008_EP-191454A_DLL_390-THUMBNAIL-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008_EP-191454A_DLL_390-THUMBNAIL.avif 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-437161\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens Frederik Nielsen (Photo: European Parliament)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>European leaders, as well as spokespeople for the European Commission, reminded Trump of the importance of <b>international law<\/b>, taking a tougher stance than the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/01\/05\/venezuela-eu-calls-for-respect-for-international-law-but-avoids-condemning-the-us-operation\/\"><b>less clear-cut condemnations<\/b><\/a> that followed the US attack on Caracas.&nbsp;&#8220;<strong>The EU continues to defend the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity<\/strong> and at the same time continues to express solidarity with Greenland and Denmark,&#8221; said <strong>EU Commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"my-2 [&amp;+p]:mt-4 [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:pb-2\"><span style=\"text-align: inherit\">A similar analysis came from the foreign ministries of France and Germany, while in&nbsp;<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: inherit\">Italy, the issue is entirely delegated&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>to the institutions in Brussels.<\/strong> Foreign Minister <strong>Antonio Tajani<\/strong>, interviewed by RTL 102.5, recalled that &#8220;<strong>the EU must take its position and guarantee the independence of a territory that is part of the Danish Crown<\/strong>,&#8221; while omitting to outline an Italian position on Trump&#8217;s words.<\/p>\n<h3 id='the-pre-emptive-strike'  id=\"boomdevs_2\">The pre-emptive strike&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<p>In any case, <strong>international law does not seem to represent the most effective curb to US covetousness.<\/strong> To convince Trump of the futility of the threats, the Danish prime minister then reminded him that Denmark is part of NATO. By virtue of this membership, there is a defence agreement with the United States that grants Washington &#8220;<strong>broad access to Greenland<\/strong>.&#8221; Reassurances that, however, do not seem to be sufficient from the White House side.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration considers the presence of <strong>Russian and Chinese ships around the frozen island<\/strong> dangerous, and Denmark is not doing enough to prevent it. In his usual brusque approach, Trump pointed out that Copenhagen has done nothing in the past year but send &#8220;<strong>a dog sled<\/strong>.&#8221;<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This insufficient contribution would therefore serve as a pretext for a US intervention. In the strange declinations of international law used at the White House, in fact, <strong>a possible incursion into the Greenland ice caps would be preventive<\/strong>, as it was for the alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers.&nbsp;<span style=\"text-align: inherit\">The reason was expressed by Donald Trump himself: &#8220;<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: inherit\">From a strategic and national security point of view, Greenland is very important<\/strong><span style=\"text-align: inherit\">.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-o-mail-quote-node=\"1\" data-o-mail-quote=\"1\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">President Trump on Greenland:<\/p>\n<p>You know what Denmark did recently to boost security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled. It&#8217;s true &#8211; they thought that was a great move. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VHMI6Q4nKd\">pic.twitter.com\/VHMI6Q4nKd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Osint613\/status\/2008153762339188891?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3 id='venezuela-and-greenland-two-different-things'  id=\"boomdevs_3\">Venezuela and Greenland, two different things&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<p class=\"my-2 [&amp;+p]:mt-4 [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:pb-2\">While the Venezuela-Greenland analogy seems clear in Washington, it does not in Brussels. &#8220;Greenland is an ally of the United States and is also covered by the NATO alliance. And this is a huge difference. <strong>We in no way see a possible comparison with what happened in Venezuela<\/strong>,&#8221; said Anita Hipper, spokesperson for the European Commission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-2 [&amp;+p]:mt-4 [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:inline-block [&amp;_strong:has(+br)]:pb-2\">Reading that also pleases London, where <strong>the most extravagant twist&nbsp;on international law has occurred.<\/strong> Prime Minister <strong>Keir Starmer,<\/strong> Trump&#8217;s close ally in Europe, in no way condemned the US incursion into Caracas, but was very tough on the claims about Greenland. &#8220;Denmark,&#8221; the premier said, &#8220;is our ally in Europe and an ally in NATO, and it is very important that <strong>the future of Greenland is decided only by the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland itself<\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the American president, the ice island is indispensable &#8220;from a strategic and national security point of view.&#8221; The Greenland Prime Minister responds in kind: &#8220;No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7891,"featured_media":430818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[31856,30138,30400,31521],"class_list":["post-442487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-donald-trump-en","tag-greenlandia-and","tag-law-international-en","tag-nato-en-10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442488,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442487\/revisions\/442488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}