Kallas: US statements regarding Greenland are extremely worrying

TALLINN - European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that recent US statements about acquiring Greenland are extremely worrying, and the EU is discussing how to respond to the potential threat.

"The messages we are hearing about Greenland are extremely worrying, and we have already had discussions among Europeans about whether this threat is real and, if so, what our response would be," Kallas said on Thursday following a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister. "As Denmark has been a good ally for the United States, these statements do nothing to contribute to global stability," she added.

"I would say that international law is very clear. We must abide by it. It is clear that this is the only thing that protects smaller countries, and therefore it is in all of our interests," Kallas noted.

Similar concerns were also voiced today by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that the United States is renouncing international rules and gradually turning away from its allies.

"The United States is an established great power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking from the international rules it was promoting until recently," Macron told ambassadors at the Élysée Palace.

"Multilateral institutions are functioning ever more ineffectively," he added. "We live in a world of great powers, where there is a real temptation to divide up the world." According to Macron, Europe must protect its interests.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the Donald Trump administration for eroding the rules-based world order.

"This erosion of values is happening with our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order in the first place," Steinmeier said on Wednesday evening at a Körber Foundation event.

According to the German president, the actions of the Trump administration represent a second episode in the fracturing of the world order, following the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Steinmeier called for more to be done to "prevent the world from becoming a den of thieves, where the most unscrupulous take what they want," The Guardian reports.