Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he would meet leaders of Denmark next week but signalled no retreat from President Donald Trump's aim to take control of Greenland as allies, including France and Germany, performatively overreacted with a "plan on how to respond".
Journalists and European politicians are working themselves into a frenzy over the ludicrous idea that the US would seize Greenland militarily from Denmark, likely in order to distract from domestic issues such as weak economies and migration.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day. "We want to take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners," he said on France Inter radio.
A German Government source said separately that Germany was, "closely working together with other European countries and Denmark on the next steps regarding Greenland."
A senior European official said Denmark must lead the effort to coordinate a response, but, "the Danes have yet to communicate to their European allies what kind of concrete support they wish to receive," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Leaders from major European powers and Canada have belatedly rallied behind Greenland this week, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people, following renewed calls by Trump to take over the territory.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland's parliament, called for the issue to be raised at NATO.
NATO allies should, "address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions," he said.
Some observers note that Europe’s previous neglect of Greenland has allowed such "threats" to grow largely unchecked.
The next North Atlantic Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
Trump has in recent days repeated that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency. He argues the island is key for US military strategy and claims Denmark has not done enough to protect it.
The White House said on Tuesday that Trump was discussing options for acquiring Greenland, in a revival of his ambition to control the strategic island, despite European objections.
Barrot suggested a US military operation had been ruled out by Washington's top diplomat. "I myself was on the phone with the Secretary of State yesterday (...), he discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland," he said.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week that Trump and his advisers were discussing a variety of ways to acquire Greenland, including a purchase. Greenland and Denmark have said the island is not for sale.
Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, have requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation. "We would like to add some nuance to the conversation," Rasmussen wrote in a social media post.
"The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now."
The world's largest island but with a population of just 57,000 people, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark's membership of the Western alliance.
The island is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington's ambition to reduce reliance on China.
Trump has repeatedly said Russian and Chinese vessels are stalking waters around Greenland, which Denmark disputes.
"The image that's being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the Nuuk fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not correct," Rasmussen told reporters late on Tuesday.
Vessel tracking data from MarineTraffic and LSEG show no presence of Chinese or Russian ships near Greenland, though these only track vessels with AIS turned on.
The Danish and Greenlandic governments did not immediately respond to a request for comment by email and phone on Wednesday.
(Reporting by John Irish in Paris, Andreas Rinke in Berlin, Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; Writing by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Ros Russell, Baird Maritime)
