EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sees it Transatlantic relations are at a critical point because of the Greenland conflict. “We are at a crossroads,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Europe favors dialogue and solutions, but is fully prepared to act if necessary. “United, fast, decisive,” emphasized von der Leyen.
Those announced by US President Donald Trump Additional tariffs against European allies are simply wrong. If we now enter a dangerous downward spiral within the alliance, this would embolden the very opponents we so clearly want to keep out of the strategic landscape.
On Greenland, von der Leyen said the island is not just an area rich in critical raw materials and a strategic outpost on increasingly important global sea routes. Above all, it is the home of a free and sovereign people. “It is a nation with its own sovereignty and its own right to territorial integrity. And only the Greenlanders decide on the future of Greenland,” she emphasized with a view to the USA’s claims to ownership.
Von der Leyen also warned MPs that there would be difficult times ahead. “This moment of global change presents many dangers,” she said. Europe must now be prepared to change even faster, to become even more independent, to secure his own future. “It won’t be easy,” she added. You will have to make difficult decisions and you will have to see everything in the larger context.
EU Council President António Costa also pointed out huge geopolitical challenges before the plenary session. He criticized that international rules-based order undermined and central alliances called into question would. “But the European Union will emerge from all this stronger, more resilient and more sovereign,” he said in Strasbourg. “We cannot accept that the rights of the strongest are placed above the rights of the weakest.” Alliances should not be reduced to a mere series of transactions. The EU is ready to defend itself against any form of coercion. You have the instruments. They want to continue a constructive dialogue with the USA.
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