French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Greenland next weekend, the Danish Prime Minister’s Office said on Saturday – a visit by well-known European Union leaders in the wake of a US statement that interests taking over the mineral-rich Arctic Island.
Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen and French leaders said they will meet on the semi-autonomous Danish territory on June 15th, hosted by Greenland’s new prime minister Jens Frederick Nielsen.
Macron’s visit, where a nuclear-armed nation has one of the EU’s most powerful military, comes as US President Donald Trump has not used his forces to exclude his desire for a resource-rich, strategically located island to make his desire part of the United States.
The issue of US interest in Greenland has drifted out of headlines in recent weeks, but Nielsen said in late April that such comments by US leaders were rude and that Greenland would never become a “property” for anyone to buy.
In a statement on Saturday, Fredericksen acknowledged “a difficult foreign policy situation in recent months” but praised Greenland and Denmark’s “great international support.”
“President Macron’s upcoming visit to Greenland is another concrete will of European unity,” she said.
The three leaders were expected to discuss North Atlantic and Arctic security, as well as issues of economic development, climate change and energy during the visit, her office said.
(Source: AP)