“You see a lot of rumors in the media, and I don’t comment on these rumors,” the Danish minister said. “The response from Denmark was quite clear: The minister of foreign affairs invited the ambassador to a meeting last week [to lodge a protest], and he made his position very clear.”
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also stressed that “you cannot spy against an ally.”
Although Greenland’s Egede did not address the spying reports, he clearly criticized the U.S. president: “We have been good partners, but what Trump does now, we don’t like it.”
Egede said Trump’s claims had brought Greenland closer not only to Denmark but also to the EU. The self-ruling Danish territory voted in a 1982 referendum to leave the European Communities, a precursor to the EU, and formally left the bloc in 1985.
Egede added he was ready to discuss a minerals deal with Brussels.
“We have 27 critical minerals out of the 35 the EU wants. But there’s been too much blah-blah-blah — we need action, we need growth in our country, and [if] either the EU or the U.S. wants our critical materials, they need to talk with us,” the deputy prime minister said.
