Finnish leader eyes NATO Arctic security plan by July
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he wanted a plan to increase the security of the Arctic to be ready by the NATO summit in July, after the United States announced a framework agreement to ease the debate over the future of Greenland.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said the United States had secured full and permanent access to Greenland by agreeing with the NATO military alliance, with the head of that alliance saying allies must increase their commitment to Arctic security to fend off threats from Russia and China.
The deal came as Trump withdrew his threat to impose tariffs on eight European allies over their handling of Greenland and refused to seize the vast mineral-rich island by force.
Stubb said he wanted a package of measures to improve the security of the Arctic that was “unlike” the agreement reached in the Hague last June, when NATO leaders supported a major increase in defense spending as Trump wanted.
“In an ideal world, we would have something ready by the NATO summit in Ankara,” Stubb told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. he said.
Stubb said a more robust Arctic security architecture should be based on closer cooperation between NATO’s five Nordic members (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland) and the United States and Canada.
He added that Finnish armed forces are trained to operate in the region.
“We have a million men and women who have done their military service in Arctic conditions,” said Stubb, who many diplomats and political analysts see as one of the European leaders most adept at building bridges with Trump.
Trump said Thursday that details of the deal on Greenland were still being worked out.
“It’s really being negotiated right now, the details of that. But essentially it’s all access. There’s no end to it, there’s no time limit,” Trump told Fox Business Network on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. he said.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed Trump’s latest comments but said he was still in the dark on many issues.
“I don’t know what is in the agreement or agreement regarding my country,” he told reporters in the capital Nuuk.
“We’re willing to discuss a lot of things, and we’re willing to negotiate a better partnership and so on. But sovereignty is the red line,” he added, when asked about reports that Trump was seeking control of areas around US military bases in Greenland as part of a broader agreement.
“We cannot cross red lines. We must respect our territorial integrity. We must respect international law and sovereignty.”
Trump’s threat last weekend to impose tariffs on European countries that oppose his bid to buy Greenland has shaken European capitals, with European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Stubb stated that he is confident that EU leaders will form a united front in Greenland, and underlined that it is especially important to listen to the views of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Frederiksen said on Thursday that there had been no negotiations with NATO over the sovereignty of Greenland, Denmark’s semi-autonomous region.
“This is still a difficult and serious situation, but at the same time progress has been made in the sense that we are getting some things where they need to be. So we can discuss how we can promote common security in the Arctic region,” Frederiksen said. he said.
Trump argued that only the United States could ensure the security of Greenland against the ambitions of China and Russia in the Arctic.
Praising the role of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in finding common ground with Trump on Greenland, Stubb said he was optimistic about the future of the alliance.
“I think President Trump is completely justified in asking the Europeans to do more on their defense, and also to pay more for the alliance and have more capacity,” he said.
“So the stronger NATO is, the better off we are.”
