What do we do when the president of the world's most powerful country makes outlandish — and often factually incorrect — claims, openly talks of annexation and repeatedly sends out his government staff to indicate that it could happen with the use of military force against a European Union and NATO member state?
When I was elected as a member of the European Parliament, I had not thought I would have to ponder an issue like that. Yet, following Donald Trump’s aggressive talk about wanting to "take over Greenland," that is exactly what I must do.
It was clear to me that merely "monitoring the situation at an unprecedented level" or issuing a declaration wasn't enough. I have been around politics long enough to know how political bullies operate, and appeasement is never a durable solution.
Instead, I evaluated what can be done immediately: freezing work on the much-debated tariff agreement that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump concluded last summer. The deal, which the Parliament is set to approve by February, will exclusively benefit the US.
Accordingly, I sent a letter to the political leadership of the Parliament, co-signed by MEPs from various political groups and different countries, from north to south, and from east to west. This letter calls for three specific and tangible actions to be taken — actions with both practical and symbolic significance.
First, it asks the Commission to block any further engagement with the proposed deal with the US until Washington stops its intimidation regarding the possibility of annexing Greenland. Second, it proposes that the Parliament, as an independent institution, express that it will not conclude agreements with a partner that resorts to threats to Europe's territorial integrity. Finally, it encourages the Commission to suspend any additional negotiation with the US for as long as it menaces the EU and its member states.
Taking the steps and communicating clearly and calmly about them will help state and make clear to the White House that Trump's threats and outlandish claims will have real, economic consequences for the US.
For some, taking such a step seems too confrontational. To those critics, my reply is: do you really believe that pandering or simply feigning disapproval will work? In such a case, this is the harsh reality: we have already tried to raise objections, and it hasn't worked out. Besides, when has responding with weakness ever truly stopped any bully?
For others, merely suspending the EU-US tariff deal is not enough. Indeed, additional firm signalling might be needed, but the step I propose is one that we can take much more swiftly than almost any other measure. It is also one that the Parliament can take on autonomously, without threats of vetoes or other procedural acts of delay and sabotage from the likes of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Moreover, how can the EU expect to retain any international credibility if it first loudly protests Trump's dreams of annexation and veiled threats of military force, only to then reward such behaviour with a one-sided tariff agreement that almost exclusively benefits Trump's US? If Europe continues down this path, the rest of the world may begin to seriously discount European foreign policy positions, not only on Greenland.
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