Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) arrived in Nuuk yesterday, where she was received by Greenland’s head of government, Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Source: Ritzau Scanpix, Mads Claus Rasmussen

When French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Nuuk yesterday, he sent a clear message to Donald Trump and his desire to take control of Greenland.

It is with common sense to position himself at the forefront of the world stage that the President of France, Macron, is landing in Greenland this afternoon.

First, with his visit to Nuuk, Emmanuel Macron gave a blunt response to Donald Trump’s threats to take over the country. Macron arrived both as the leader of a major military power and the EU’s only nuclear power, but also as a symbol of the EU’s unconditional support for Greenland as part of the Danish Commonwealth.

“‎Preserving the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the country’s borders of the Kingdom of Denmark is crucial for all EU member states,”‎ said Emmanuel Macron in February at an EU summit in Brussels.

‘Greenland cannot be taken’

Ahead of his trip to Nuuk, Macron repeated the message he was the very first European leader to state when Donald Trump began to move towards Greenland:

You are not only messing with Greenland and Denmark, but with the entire EU.

It is a message that will probably reach the White House. A large group of French and international journalists are traveling with the French president to Nuuk, where Danish and Greenlandic media – and a freezing vanguard of French officials, diplomats and security personnel darting around the streets of Nuuk – have been ready to welcome them for days.

Contrast with J.D. Vance

Whether the French visit risks provoking Donald Trump, sources in the Elysée Palace want to ‘not speculate’.

But it is certain that the American president will see very special images when Emmanuel Macron is warmly welcomed at Nuuk airport by Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen – a sharp contrast to the visit of the American Vice President, J.D. Vance, in March, which was cut short to a short visit to the American Pittufik Space Base (formerly Thule base), when no one else wanted to receive Trump’s second-in-command.

France, a player in the Arctic

Since becoming president eight years ago, Emmanuel Macron has stubbornly worked to ensure that France and Europe would become more independent from the United States – both in terms of security policy and economics.

At the same time, France itself has a major commitment to the Arctic – the country has committed to investing one billion euros in polar research by 2030, and France is one of six non-Arctic countries that are permanent observers in the Arctic Council.

Climate and energy are also on the agenda when the new security policy trio Macron, Nielsen and Frederiksen hold a working meeting on the frigate Niels Juel in the fjord off Nuuk this afternoon.

Inland, the French flag is hoisted in the heart of Nuuk, right between Brugsen and Hotel Hans Egede, but out of consideration for guests from all countries, the hotel has also hung up the American, Danish and Greenlandic flags.

The flag parade looks festive, but involuntarily also reminds us of the geopolitical triangle drama that the French president, with a united EU behind him, is now stepping into.

• Source: dr.dk (in Danish)