We’re now closing this blog. You can read our full report on Vance’s Greenland visit here:
Thanks for following along.
During his visit to Greenland, JD Vance said that there are “no immediate plans” to expand US military presence in the Danish territory.
Nevertheless, he said that Russia and China have an increased footprint across Greenland and said “we need to wake up.”
“We can’t bury our heads in the sand - or in this case in the snow - and pretend the Chinese are not interested in this landmass,” Vance said.
Another Greenlander, Karline Poulsen, told the BBC that she disagrees with the tone Donald Trump has struck on Greenland.
“There are many ways to say things but I think the way president Trump is saying it is not the way.”
Describing Trump’s words “like a threat” to the outlet, Poulsen added that Greenland’s new coalition government sends a powerful message to the US “if they consider things that way.”
Speaking to the BBC, several Greenlanders expressed their concerns over US vice president JD Vance’s visit to Greenland.
“I’m concerned [about the visit]...this is kind of odd, I don’t like it,” one woman, Nina, told the outlet.
Nina’s daughter, Anita, echoed similar sentiments, saying that the “intentions” of the Americans “aren’t as pure or as clear as they claim to be.”
Less than 30% of Americans want to join Greenland, according to a March poll from Fox News which CNN’s Anderson Cooper aired on Friday.
Meanwhile, 85% of Greenlanders are opposed to the US taking over the territory.
Since assuming the White House earlier this year, Trump has repeatedly stated plans for the US to take over the Danish territory.
His vice president JD Vance is currently visiting US troops in Greenland, telling them that Denmark “have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.”
Vance added that Greenland would be better off “coming under the United States’ security umbrella than you have been under Denmark’s security umbrella.”
In response to US vice president JD Vance’s visit to Greenland, California’s Democratic representative Eric Swalwell took to X and criticized Vance’s visit to the Danish territory, saying:
“What the hell is JD Vance doing in Greenland? They don’t want him there. We don’t need him there. Why won’t he go to Greensboro or Green Bay to see how much Trump’s tariff tax is costing people?”
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, but I’m leaving the blog with Maya Yang for more reactions so stay with us on Europe Live.
Vance's speech in two versions - snap analysis
If you are a “glass half empty” person, this is a direct diplomatic challenge to Copenhagen criticising it for “not doing a good job”, exploiting existing and real tensions with the Greenlandic people, and effectively declaring the US support for the Greenlandic independence movement with a view to closer partnership with the US further down the line.
But if you are a “glass half full” person, Vance’s comments were actually a bit reassuring on the US respect for the self-determination of Greenland, not necessarily talking about making it a part of the US but only about some sort of partnership, and he clearly played down the scenario of using force to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Your pick.
Updated
Think of this as Vance’s third big intervention on Europe: first in Munich, then with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, and now this, on Greenland.
All three send a very clear signal to European allies from the new US administration.
JD Vance's criticism of Denmark over Greenland - summary
US vice-president JD Vance said Denmark “has not done a good job at keeping Greenland safe,” accusing it of “underinvesting in the people of Greenland and … in the security architecture” of the island (19:23).
He argued that “Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe” from Russia, China and other nations with interest in this area” (19:20).
He accused Denmark of “passing it all off” to Americans and hoping they would pick up the bill for it (19:30), saying the US argument was “with the leadership of Greenland,” adding: “this simply must change” (19:25)
He called for allies to “wake up from a failed 40-year consensus that said that we could ignore the encroachment of powerful countries as they expand to their ambitions” and said “we can’t just … bury our head in the snow” (19:27).
Vance appeared to back the independence movement in Greenland, saying the administration’s view was that the Greenlanders would “choose … to become independent of Denmark, and then we are going to have conversations … from there” (19:41).
But he said that Trump “does not think that military force is going to be necessary” to see the advances the US wants.
Speaking more broadly about the Trump administration’s policies, including on tariffs, he said “we are done being the piggy bank of the entire world,” while repeating his attack on “European friends” for “neglecting international security for 40 years” (19:35).
And JD Vance is back on the plane and soon will be on the way back to the US.
But the fallout from this visit will continue for much longer.
US threat assessment on Greenland – notes
For what it’s worth, as context to Vance’s words on Chinese and Russian threat to Greenland, here are relevant excerpts from the annual threat assessment of the US intelligence community, published earlier this month.
On China:
China has gradually increased engagement with Greenland mainly through mining projects, infrastructure development, and scientific research projects. Despite less active engagement right now, China’s long-term goal is to expand access to Greenland’s natural resources, as well as to use the same access as a key strategic foothold for advancing China’s broader and economic aims in the Arctic.
On Russia:
Russia’s interest in Greenland is focused mainly on its proximity to strategically important naval routes between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans—including for nuclear-armed submarines—and the fact that Greenland hosts a key U.S. military base.
Updated
Copenhagen's diplomatic nightmare scenario - snap analysis
Putting aside the threat of using military force, this speech is pretty close to a diplomatic nightmare scenario for Denmark.
It’s a direct, full-throated US backing for the Greenlandic independence and promise the US “then are going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there.”
Expect a reaction from Copenhagen.
Updated
Responding to the last question, Vance says the US would protect Greenland from “economic exploitation” and “terrible economic debt traps that would make the people of Greenland not self-determined and sovereign, but … mortgage their future to hostile foreign countries that do not have their best interests at heart.”
What we want to do is to protect the security of this territory, because it matters for us and it matters for the people who live here.
And that concludes the press conference.
We think Greenlanders will choose independence and we're going to have conversations with Greenlanders from there, Vance says
Back to Greenland, Vance is asked whether his language today is more about encouraging the Greenlandic people to vote for independence, and not using military force to take the island.
He says the rhetoric has not changed.
“Look, the president said, clearly he doesn’t think that military force is going to be necessary, but he absolutely believes that Greenland is important part of the security, not just of the United States, but of the world.”
He goes on to say that Greenland is “extremely vulnerable right now” and he hopes that the people of Greenland will “partner” with the US.
“We could make them much more secure, we could do a lot more protection, and I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.
This has to happen, and the reason it has to happen, I hate to say it, is because our friends in Denmark have not done their job in keeping this area safe. They just haven’t done it.”
Speaking of president Trump’s view, he says “what we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there.”
He adds:
“So I think that talking about anything too far in the future is way too premature.
We do not think that military force is ever going to be necessary.
We think this makes sense, and because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we’re going to be able to cut a deal.”
Briefly turning to Russia, Vance says the US feels “very good about where things are” in negotiations as he says some issues are to do with “mistranslations and some of them are not totally clear what is even being asked for.”
“ I think that we’ve made an incredible amount of progress,” he says.
'We're done being piggy bank of entire world,' Vance says on tariffs and security
Vance then gets asked about tariffs, and specifically speaks about Canada saying that “as president Trump often says, they just don’t have the cards.”
“There is no way that Canada can win a trade war with the United States,” he asserts.
He then says Trump ran on the ticket of “we’re done being the piggy bank of the entire world for 40 years in the same way that our European friends, I think, have neglected international security for 40 years,” and that drives Trump’s agenda.
After a few questions about the US strike against Houthis and the “Signalgate,” Vance is back talking about Greenland, as he gets asked if there were any “specific threats coming from China and Russia” he heard about today.
He says “that the Chinese are very, very interested in this island,” and adds “we’ve seen some of the economic pressures that they’ve tried to place on Greenland.”
“For world security, what we have to recognise is that if the Chinese and the Russians are going to pursue their national interest, we need a president who’s going to pursue the American national interest, and that means ensuring that Greenland is safe,” he says.
Denmark 'passed it all off to brave Americans and hope we would pick up tab,' Vance says
Asked about the president’s policy to acquire Greenland, Vance once again attacks Denmark, as he says Trump was clear that “we respect the self-determination of the people of Greenland.”
But he says he is willing to make an argument to them that they would be “a lot better having coming under the US security umbrella than you have been under Denmark security umbrella.”
“Because what Denmark’s security umbrella has meant is, effectively, they’ve passed it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up a tab.”
Turning to Greenlanders again, he says both president Trump and himself “hope that they choose to partner with the United States, because we’re the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security, because their security is very much our security.”
Updated
In Q&A, Vance notes that securing Greenland would “require investing more resources,” including in military icebreakers and naval ships with greater presence in Greenland – but there are no immediate plans for deployment now.
He then talks about the risks and dangers posed by China and Russia in particular.
“We need to wake up from a failed 40 year consensus that said that we could ignore the encroachment of powerful countries as they expand to their ambitions.
We can’t just bury our head in the sand or in Greenland, bury our head in the snow and pretend that the Chinese are not interested in this very large land mass.
We know that they are.”
Updated
'Our argument is with leadership of Denmark,' Vance says
Turning to Greenlanders, Vance says how much he heard about the respect of the US military for Greenlanders, and stresses the US “believe in the self-determination of this population, of the people of Greenland.”
“Our argument is very simple. It is not with the people of Greenland, who I think are incredible and have an incredible opportunity here.
Our argument really is with the leadership of Denmark, which is under invested in Greenland and under invested in its security architecture that simply must change.”
'You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,' Vance tells Denmark
Vance continues saying that “the story of Greenland over the past 20 years when it comes to security is that we’ve under invested in the infrastructure.”
He says when he first made similar comments “there was a lot of criticism from Denmark” for what he says was “saying the obvious, which is that Denmark has not done a good job at keeping Greenland safe.”
He dismisses the argument that many Danes lost their lives in the “war on terror” fighting alongside the US, saying that while he “honours the sacrifice of our Danish friends,” he wants to focus on the future.
He says:
“Recognising that there are important security partnerships in the past does not mean that we can’t have disagreements with allies in the present about how to preserve our shared security for the future, and that’s what this is about.
There is no amount of bullying, no amount of obfuscating, no amount of confusing the issue.
Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.
You have under invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people.
That has to change, and because it hasn’t changed, this is why President Trump’s policy in Greenland is what it is.”
Vance directly attacks Denmark for 'not keeping pace' with resources, keeping Greenland safe
JD Vance then turns directly against Denmark, saying he wanted to “be honest what failed over the last 20 years to do in some cases,” saying the area is less important, because “allies have not kept up as China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest in Greenland.”
“We know that too often our allies in Europe have not kept pace. They haven’t kept pace with military spending.
And Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations.”
Vance talks about importance of Greenland base
Vance starts by talking about the importance of Greenland and this base, as he says:
If, God forbid, to my fellow Americans, if a missile was fired from an enemy country or an enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us, who would give notice to our brave men and women further south, in the United States to let people know what was coming, and God willing to try to shoot it down and prepare for it.
He says Russia and China and other nations “are taking an extraordinary interest in Artic passageways,” and the US needs to “lead in the Arctic, because we know that if America doesn’t, other nations will fill the gap”.
Updated
Vance first invites some of the officials to speak alongside him.
US energy secretary Chris Wright speaks about “what energy can do” as he talks about the challenges of running a base “in a tough Arctic environment” like this.
Senator Mike Lee pays tribute to US personnel deployed to Greenland without their families, saying “what you do here makes us safer.”
National security adviser Mike Waltz follows the suit, thanking US personnel for “continuing a tradition of the US military’s presence” here since the second world war.
He adds president Trump is “absolutely serious” about the Arctic, shipping lanes, energy, fisheries and the role played by the Pituffik base.
And we go back to Vance.
JD Vance is now speaking, as he thanks “our guardians, our airmen, and everyone else for the warm reception in a very, very cold place”.
Updated
JD Vance delivers his speech in Greenland
US vice-president JD Vance is about to start his speech to Danish leaders watching it anxiously from Copenhagen the members of the US military personnel stationed in Greenland.
You can watch it below, and I will bring you all the key lines here.
Updated
US needs control over Greenland and 'can't do without it,' Trump says
US president Donald Trump has just repeated the US needed control over Greenland for “world peace,” adding he hoped Denmark and the EU would understand it aid “if they don’t, we are going to have to explain it to them”.
“Do you think we can do without it? We can’t,” he said.
“We need Greenland. Very importantly, for international security, we have to have Greenland.
If you look at Greenland right now, if you look at the waterways, you have Chinese and Russian ships all over the place, and we’re not going to be able to do that.
We’re not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation.
And we’re not talking about peace for the United States. We’re talking about world peace. We’re talking about international security.”
He said that “modern day weaponry makes Greenland” more important than 100 years ago, and also with new “water roadways” opening up.
“Greenland’s very important for the peace of the world, not us the peace of the entire world, and I think, Denmark, understands it, I think the European Union, understands it.
And if they don’t, we’re going to have to explain it to them.”
Trump spoke on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony for the US Attorney for New Jersey – just minutes before his vice-president JD Vance is due to speak from Greenland.
Updated
The vice-president is back out, posing for pictures in front of a massive sign saying “Pituffik Space Base.”
We are expecting his speech within the next half hour (+/-).
Vance meets US soldiers at Pituffik base in Greenland - video
Military briefing gets under way
The US delegation has now moved on to get a briefing on the station’s activities.
Vance starts the meeting by acknowledging the base commander Col. Susan Meyers for doing the Polar Bear Plunge after spotting a certificate in her office.
“OK, man, you guys are tough,” he says.
And then reporters are out of the room as their proper meeting gets under way.
Vance says he will talk about US ‘interest in Greenland’
Going into his lunch with soldiers, Vance gives his first impressions on Greenland by saying “it’s cold as shit here.”
(To be fair, it is pretty cold: -19 Celsius, -2 Fahrenheit.)
But he says it was “a really beautiful flight,” “over some pretty cool spots,” as he notes that he is the first vice-president to ever visit Greenland as he thanks soldiers for their service.
He says that with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz they will “talk to the command and some of the guardians about what exactly the base does and all the important ways to contribute to national security,” and get a briefing on what the base does.
And in a nightmare scenario for Danish officials watching this from Copenhagen, he adds:
“And then we’re gonna talk just about, as you’ve heard, we have some interest in Greenland from the Trump administration, so we’re gonna talk a little bit about that with our friends in the media.”
He then goes on:
“The Trump administration, the President is really interested in Arctic security. As you all know, it’s a big issue, and it’s only gonna get bigger over the coming decades.”
Updated
After getting a formal welcome from military representatives, the Vances get into a car and get driven deeper into the base.
As part of the visit, they will receive two briefings, have lunch with members of the military, and deliver a speech.
That last – but probably most notable for us – element is expected around 5.45pm GMT (6.45pm CET).
JD Vance lands in Greenland
Aaand… here they are!
Updated
Danish leaders 'spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens,' senior White House source tells Fox
In a taster of what we can see during this trip, here’s a quote from a senior White House source telling Fox News that Danish leaders are to be blamed for “spending decades mistreating the Greenlandic people” and “treating them like second-class citizens.”
“The vice-president and Second Lady are embarking on a historic expedition with their visit to Greenland, where the vice-president will emphasize the importance of bolstering Artic security in places like Pituffik Space Base.
Unfortunately, Danish leaders have spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair.
Expect the vice-president to emphasize these points as well.”
Updated
Vance says 'looking forward' to Greenland visit as he shares post blaming Denmark for 'ugly, dishonest spat' over plans
As his plane approaches Greenland, JD Vance posted a quick update on X saying “We’re on our way and looking forward to it!”
But the Danish media noted that his comment quoted a post by Donald Trump Jr., who in turn shared an article by a conservative commentator Ned Ryun with this scathing attack on Denmark:
Unfortunately, the visit also comes on the heels of an ugly, dishonest spat initiated by Denmark, which – after receiving bad press following decades of mistreating the Greenlandic people – is deflecting with attacks on the second lady.
Updated
So many souvenirs for JD Vance to take home from Greenland: oil, gas, minerals – and that’s just the start - comment
The trip has evolved this week both in style and substance.
Originally, it was announced that the second lady was going to take one of her sons, immerse herself in various local events – she’s apparently simply fascinated by Greenland’s culture – and attend the famous Avannaata Qimussersua dog sled race. No more. Now, it’s her husband instead of her son, and the Vances are only going to a military facility.
This is a little bit like announcing you’re travelling to Kyoto to see the blossoms, then “recalibrating” your trip so that all you’ll actually be taking in is a tour of the storage facility where they keep the most boring documents from the signing of the 1997 climate protocol.
…
Still, the good news is that Mike Waltz should still be going. Yes! The second lady was in fact always slated to go on her little tourist jaunt accompanied by the national security adviser to the US president – and there’s nothing weird about that. Personally, I never minibreak without one.
…
Alas, it seems that the sheer obnoxiousness of the Vances’ trailed visit was the thing that fatally repulsed the locals, leaving US organisers with no choice but to commute the trip down to just one secure base visit.
It’s reported that advance-party administration officials went door to door in Greenland trying to find a local family who would be pleased to welcome Usha and her large adult son Mike Waltz into their humble dwelling – presumably in order that they could say something like:
“Wow, what a beautiful humble home you have. Be a real shame if anything happened to it …”
Read in full:
We’re now waiting for JD Vance to land in Putiffik Space Base, Greenland in the next hour or so.
If you’re really keen, you can track his plane on FlightRadar here.
As earlier reported, we are also expecting the US vice-president to deliver a speech while in Greenland, so let’s stay with us for all the latest updates.
Updated
Responding to US pressure, ensuring equality in relations with Denmark top tasks for new government, former PM and new finance minister says
Múte B. Egede, the previous prime minister who takes the role of the finance minister in the new government, also appeared on DR in the last few minutes, saying that responding to the pressure, “especially from the US and from outside,” is something that needs to be quickly addressed.
He said the new government needs to maintain “good cooperative relations with the world,” but also “secure our right to self-determination.”
He also added that the new administration wanted Danes to understand there is currently “no equality” in Greenland’s relationship with Denmark, and wanted that to be addressed.
New Greenlandic PM repeats criticism of Vance's visit as 'not showing respect to ally'
The new Greenlandic prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, also briefly appeared on the Danish DR news channel, interviewed by a group of reporters.
He said that Denmark remained the closest neighbour and partner, followed by the US, adding he wanted to have constructive dialogue with both of them.
Asked about JD Vance’s visit, he noted that he would only visit a US military base, but repeated his criticism that “it is not showing respect for an ally” to visit just as the new government is being formed.
“I think it is a shame, but now we have a government that needs to get to work, and that will start immediately,” he said.
His criticism is not new; in an interview with Greenlandic newspaper Sermistiaq on Sunday, he said:
“The fact that the Americans know we are in the middle of coalition talks and haven’t even completed the municipal election, but still choose this moment to visit Greenland, once again shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic people.”
Updated
One of the new government’s leaders, Aqqalu Jerimiassen, was just interviewed on Danish DR TV, and asked about his message to US vice-president JD Vance as he touches down in Pittufik space base later today.
The leader of the smallest coalition party, Atassut, said:
“It’s our country, he just need to know that.”
He adds that despite provocative rhetoric, Greenland still considers the US as its ally, adding: “Just let the people know what we don’t want to be part of the United States.”
Danish PM congratulates new Greenlandic government
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen is quick off the mark with her congratulations for the new government.
In a post on social media platforms, she says:
Big congratulations to Greenland with the new government.
I wish Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the rest of the Naalakkersuisut [the government of Greenland] all the best for your work and for Greenland.
And I look forward to close cooperation in an unnecessarily conflict-filled time.
New Greenlandic government formed, eyes discussion on future relationship with Denmark
The newly formed Greenlandic government wants to push for negotiations with Denmark over the revision of the Self-Government Act, which governs the relations between Denmark and Greenland, the Danish broadcaster DR said.
The government wants to find an agreement on “a renewed and modern framework for future cooperation,” with status quo “not an option,” DR reported.
New prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, also spoke at the ceremony about Greenland being “under pressure”, as he insisted that “unity is crucial” in response.
He also added that the government wanted to work on the future relationship with Denmark “but it must be equal,” quoted by the Danish newspaper Berlingske.
In a separate update on Facebook, published at the start of the ceremony, Nielsen said that “security and safety of the population” will be his overriding priority.
“We must have control of the immediate before we dream of the distant. And when we must decide together on the big questions about our future, it must be done with openness, responsibility and respect,” he said.
Greenland parties sign coalition agreement to form new government – video
As reported earlier (10:11), four of the five parties in the new Greenlandic parliament are set to sign a coalition agreement to form the next government today.
The event is just starting now and you can watch it along with us here:
Updated
JD Vance expected to speak at Pituffik Space Base this afternoon - media reports
Making some of the Danish fears come true (8:23), it appears that US vice-president JD Vance could speak later from the Pituffik Space Base, Greenland, according to the Danish broadcaster TV2 reporting a notice from the European Broadcasting Union.
The speech is expected 5.45pm GMT (6.45pm CET), according to the report.
I will look out for official confirmation.
Updated
Connection to Pituffik re-restablished, Tussas tells Guardian
Tussas has just confirmed to the Guardian that “all connections are re-established,” and explained the very brief technical issue was do to with a power outage at Pituffik.
But it’s all back and running now.
Lines down in Putiffik, Greenlandic telecoms company says
In a development that may or may not be related to JD Vance’s visit, the Greenlandic telecommunications operator Tusass has just said that “all communication to Pituffik is down”.
“The investigation has been initiated and we are trying to re-establish the connection as soon as possible,” it added in a customer update on its website.
Pituffik is where the US base that Vance is due to visit is located.
Updated
JD Vance’s plane left for Greenland this morning and, as reported by CBS News senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs, scheduled to travel with him and his wife, Usha, were:
National security adviser Mike Waltz with his wife and former Trump homeland security adviser, Julia Nesheiwat
Energy secretary Chris Wright
US Senator Mike Lee (who appeared to be very excited by the trip to the point of sharing AI-generated visuals picturing JD Vance on Greenland).
Updated
US puts European alliances at risk by threatening to annex Greenland, senior Danish lawmaker says
Back to Greenland, Rasmus Jarlov, chair of Denmark’s defence committee, appeared on CNN last night, offering his take on the US plans for Greenland.
In stark comments, he said:
“We can’t do it. We cannot hand over 57,000 of our citizens to become Americans against their will.”
He was also asked if he could envision a scenario where the US tries to use force to claim Greenland from Denmark.
“I certainly hope not, but that’s up to the American government. We’re not going to back down. We’re not going to hand over Greenland, regardless of what type of pressure is applied to us.”
He then went further:
“There is a lot at stake here, because this is not only a matter of being reasonable to Denmark and Greenland.
It is also a matter of the entire western alliance. Nobody’s going to be allied to a country that tries to annex parts of that country’s territory.
So if the US wants to be a global leader, and we’ve been very happy to let the US lead the world, but then you have to behave. You can’t just attack your allies and try to take their territory while at the same time trying to help Russia to gain more territory in Europe.”
The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is facing a verdict on Monday in the case involving her party’s alleged misuse of European funds for parliamentary assistants, had hoped that a ruling today from the French Constitutional Council in a different case would boost her hopes of avoiding a possible immediate ban on running for public office.
However, today’s ruling has just dropped and it looks unlikely to have a significant impact on any sentence Le Pen may or may not receive on Monday.
Considering a case involving a local councillor handed a ban with immediate application – not suspended until the appeal is decided – the council found it constitutional. Despite Le Pen allies’ hopes, however, it did not expand its analysis to cover broader questions about the so-called ineligibility bans.
During Le Pen’s trial, the prosecution requested a €300,000 fine, five years in prison and an ineligibility sentence with immediate application, which would rule her out of the 2027 presidential elections in France.
Addressing the trial last autumn Le Pen said she was innocent. “I have absolutely no sense of having committed the slightest irregularity, or the slightest illegal act,” she said.
Updated
Four Greenlandic parties set to sign coalition agreement today
Four of the five parties in the Greenlandic parliament will sign a coalition agreement today, in an apparent show of unity in the face of US interest in the island, local media reported.
The agreement will be signed at 11am local time (1pm GMT, 2pm CET), with the new government in control of 23 out of 31 mandates in the new parliament.
The presumed next prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s plans to take control of the island, telling Sky News:
“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders, and we want our own independence in the future. ... And we want to build our own country by ourselves.”
Only the most ardently pro-independence party, Naleraq, which came second in elections earlier this month will not be part of the coalition, after dropping out of talks last week.
‘Welcome to the top of the world’ - location
When JD Vance and his delegation touch down at Pituffik space base in Greenland on Friday, they will be greeted by the words: “Welcome to the top of the world.”
As well as being the US’s most northerly military base – and its only one on the vast Arctic island – it is also among the world’s most isolated places.
For nine months of the year, the base (formerly known as Thule airbase) in north-western Greenland is locked in by ice, although it remains accessible by plane throughout the year. For three months there is no sunlight.
The strategically important site – about 932 miles (1,500km) from Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, 750 miles (1,207km) north of the Arctic Circle, and across Baffin Bay from Nunavut in Canada – plays an essential role in US missile detection.
Home to an upgraded early warning radar weapon system that can detect ballistic missiles, the base also monitors space for debris from decommissioned satellites and is home to the world’s most northerly deep-water port.
JD Vance to face frosty reception in Greenland - analysis
The visit to Pituffik, a remote ice-locked US military base in northwestern Greenland, will be closely watched by leaders in Nuuk and Copenhagen, who have aired their opposition to the trip amid ongoing threats by Donald Trump to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
“It’s safe to say we would rather not have him [Vance] in Greenland,” a government source in Copenhagen said.
The mood in Copenhagen was understood to be apprehensive. On Thursday, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen said: “Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom. That is not going to change.”
Meanwhile Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s minister for foreign affairs, said Vance would not be greeted by Danish politicians at Pituffik because “it has nothing to do with us”.
“This is about an American vice-president who is going to visit his own military installation in Greenland. It has nothing to do with us,” he said.
Morning opening: You're (not) welcome here
In normal times, a visit by a US vice-president would be actively sought by many allied countries as a useful show of close relations with Washington.
But these days are gone. When JD Vance touches down at Pituffik space base in Greenland in the afternoon, there will be no Danish representatives to welcome him there, and they were open about the fact that he is, in fact, not welcome there, at least not anywhere outside the US base.
But then, these are not normal times, and it is not difficult to see why Danish politicians are not excited about increasingly thinly veiled threats of US plans to take control over Greenland – even against the will of its people.
It marks a dramatic shift from the close alliance between Denmark and the US, as Copenhagen now faces what still feels like a surreal scenario of having to defend a part of their country – which repeatedly showed no interest in becoming a part of the US – from the increasingly assertive US administration.
Earlier this week, US president Donald Trump said:
“It’s an island that from a defensive posture, and even offensive posture, is something we need, especially with the world the way it is, and we’re going to have to have it.”
“So, I think we’ll go as far as we have to go. We need Greenland and the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark.”
These words will inevitably frame the way today’s visit will be perceived in Europe. A source in the Danish government is quoted in today’s Berlingske as worrying that Denmark could face its version of “the Crimea script,” a reference to the Russian illegal occupation of the Ukrainian territory in 2014.
“For Denmark, this is the biggest foreign policy crisis since the second world war,” Jon Rahbek Clemmensen, Head of Research at the Center for Arctic Security Studies of the Royal Danish Defence College, told TV2.
There are still many unknowns about the programme of the visit – there are only so many things you can do in one of the world’s most isolated places – but Copenhagen particularly fears that Vance could use the trip to deliver a speech furthering the US claims to Greenland. He has a form with provocative speeches in Europe, after all.
Despite earlier reports, the US vice-president could still be joined by senior officials, national security adviser Mike Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright, highlighting the unusually high profile of the visit.
Let’s see.
But it’s perhaps not a coincidence that it’s also that today that four of the five parties in the new Greenlandic parliament – all except the most pro-independence, pro-American Naleraq – are planning to announce the formation of a new government, just hours before Vance gets to the island.
I will bring you all the key updates on this throughout the day and more stories from France, Germany, and across Europe.
It’s Friday, 28 March 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.
Good morning.
