France, Germany and the EU have issued a cautious warning to Donald Trump, urging the US president-elect to refrain from actions that threaten the “sovereign borders” of the European Union. This comes after Trump refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory under Denmark, a member state of the EU.

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“There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be... attack its sovereign borders,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during an interview with France Inter radio.

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Barrot added, “We are a strong continent. We need to strengthen ourselves more.” When asked directly whether the United States might invade Greenland, he responded, “If you ask me: 'Is the United States going to invade Greenland?' the answer is no.”

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'Should we be overcome with worry? Evidently, no'

He added, “We have entered an era that is seeing the return of the law of the strongest. Should we be intimidated? Should we be overcome with worry? Evidently, no. We need to wake up and reinforce ourselves, militarily, in competition, in a world where the law of the strongest prevails.”

Barrot also said that he believes that the US is “inherently not imperialistic” and he doubts that this fundamental nature is changing. However, French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas said, “Today we are seeing the rise in blocs, we can see this as a form of imperialism, which materialises itself in the statements that we saw from Mr Trump on the annexation of an entire territory.”

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"More than ever, we and our European partners need to be conscious, to get away from a form of naivety, to protect ourselves, to rearm," she added.

'Wild hypothetical stuff'

The European Commission also dismissed Trump’s comments about Greenland as “wild hypothetical stuff,” but added that EU member states are obligated to defend Greenland if it came under attack. A commission spokesman said, “We are talking about fairly wild hypothetical stuff about an administration that hasn’t come in yet.”

When asked if Greenland is protected under the EU’s mutual defence clause, Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho confirmed it is, adding, “But we are indeed speaking of something extremely theoretical on which we will not want to elaborate.”

'Borders must not be moved by force'

In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, “As always, the firm principle applies... that borders must not be moved by force.” 

However, he refrained from commenting further on whether Berlin takes Trump’s statements about NATO allies Denmark and Canada seriously, saying only that the German government had “taken note” of his comments.

Also read: Why is Donald Trump interested in acquiring ownership of Greenland?

Trump’s remarks came after a press conference on Tuesday during which he called the US-Canada border an “artificially drawn line” and suggested that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the “Gulf of America.” He also refused to rule out the use of military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, while hinting at plans to use “economic force” to make Canada part of the US.

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump said. 

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Greenland, which was granted home rule in 1979 as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has made it clear that it is not for sale. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either. Greenland belongs to the Greelanders.”

(With inputs from agencies)