'Future of Greenland is only for Greenlanders to decide,' EU's von der Leyen reiterates
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that “the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide” as she warned that Europe needs to “transform the ways in which we think and act” to step up to challenges posed by the rapidly changing world order.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images
She said that Europe needed to realise “we now live in a world defined by raw power,” adding that “in this increasingly lawless world, Europe needs its own levers of power” and abandon its “traditional caution” to build on its economic might and become more independent.
Speaking at the European parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, von der Leyen also repeated the key lines from her Davos speech yesterday, warning that the US threat of tariffs on EU partners over Greenland could send the relations into “a dangerous downward spiral” and “only embolden the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape.”
“Greenland is not just a territory in a key region of the world map, and the land rich in critical raw materials, a strategic outpost on emerging global sea routes. It’s all of these things, but above all, Greenland is home to a free and sovereign people. It is a nation with its sovereignty and its right to territorial integrity, and the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide,” she said.
Von der Leyen also said “it is more important than ever that we keep focusing on Ukraine,” continuing the bloc’s support for the wartorn country.
EU continues talks on trade with US as 'it's time for engagement, not escalation'
in Brussels
Back to Brussels, the commission’s deputy chief spokesperson Olof Gill confirmed that the EU continues conversations with the US at the “technical and political levels” to discuss transatlantic tradeamid Trump’s tariff threat over Greenland.
Earlier today, EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovičmet with the US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Davos.
Gill said:
“That’s as it should be because, as we have said from this podium, as our political principals … have said, now is the time for engagement, not escalation.
We want to resolve this, in a respectful, mature way, but, should that not be possible, we have options on the table.”
US envoy Witkoff to meet Russia's Putin for talks on Ukraine with focus on 'land deals'
Separately, we are getting a news line that the US special envoy Steve Witkoff is going to meet Russia’s president Vladimir Putin on Thursday for another round of talks on Ukraine.
Witkoff has confirmed that he intends to discuss Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations, and plans to meet with the Ukrainians, too.
Speaking to CNBC television, Witkoff claimed there has been “lots of progress in the last six to eight weeks,” and “hopefully we’ll have something good to announce soon.”
He said the talks at the moment focused on “land deals now,” which he called “the 800 lb elephant in the room”, but insisted there were “some very, very good ideas around that.”
EU's von der Leyen will not meet Trump in Davos, EU confirms
The European Commission’s midday briefing is now under way and we have just had a confirmation that its president, Ursula von der Leyen, will travel from Strasbourg, where she was this morning “directly” back to Brussels for tomorrow’s European Council.
What that essentially means is she’s not going back to Davos to meet US president Donald Trump.
“The president made the strategic and political assessment that’s the best use of her energies was to return to Brussels to focus on preparation for what is a very important European Council meeting where she will engage with EU leaders to take stock of where we stand in geopolitical terms and then look at possible next steps,” her spokesperson, Olof Gill said.
Pushed on whether there was any genuine prospect of a meeting with US president Trump, he said “as far as I am aware, no invitations were issued in either direction.”
The spokesperson did not directly answer a question on whether the EU will join his “board of peace” for Gaza, saying merely the EU is “in close contact” with partners.
There will also be a special meeting of the college of commissioners on Friday to discuss the outcomes of the EU summit tomorrow, he added.
Trump approaches Zurich as he continues delayed trip to Davos
Donald Trump’s stand-in plane is about 20 minutes away from Zurich, Switzerland, as the US president continues his delayed trip to Davos, where he will address the World Economic Forum this afternoon.
The US president’s main plane, Air Force One, has been forced to abort its flight to Switzerland and turn back after what officials described as a “minor electrical issue”.
If you want to follow his back-up plane, aAir Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used for domestic trips to smaller airports, you can do it here.
But as he is likely to be late in Davos, so the timing of his speech is very much still TBC.
Power cut affects Danish island of Bornholm in Baltic Sea
While Greenland is still dominating the headlines in Denmark, the country is also following the reports about a major power cut affecting the Bornholm island after local power supplier Trefor El-Net Øst said that a submarine cable linking it with Sweden failed this morning.
The island, which has nearly 40,000 residents, was cut off this morning after a reported overload, but the company insisted in comments to Danish media that there was no reason for concern.
Separately, Denmark’s energy infrastructure company, Energinet, denied that the power outage was linked to the submarine cable, suggesting a fault in the island’s system.
The process of restoring energy could take until late afternoon, it was reported.
'Time of flattery has ended,' former Danish PM and Nato sec gen says, but hopes for de-escalation with US
Former Nato secretary general and former Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the “time of flattery has ended” as Europe needs to step up its response to Trump’s threats over Greenland – but still look for off-ramps to avoid escalation whereever possible.
Speaking to BBC News this morning, he warned that a US attack on Greenland “would be the end of Nato,” and push Europeans to urgently step up its defence in its own right, regardless of the US.
“It doesn’t make sense to have a collective defence organisation where one ally and in this case the major ally, attacks another ally to acquire territory,” he said.
But he joked that instead of the Nobel peace prize, Trump could be nominated for the European Schuman prize for promoting closer European integration, “because he has, more than anybody else, contributed to uniting the European continent.”
Rasmussen said that despite “outrageous” outbursts from Trump, the European should keep pushing for “off-ramps” to avoid conflict, including a renewal of the US-Denmark agreement going back to 1951 and “pave the way for a more permanent Nato presence in Greenland and the Arctic.”
But he said that the off-ramps could also involve new investment deals, including on Greenland’s rare earth and other critical minerals, and a new investment screening mechanism to prevent any Chinese or Russian money flowing to the territory.
“I think those three areas would accommodate the concerns of President Trump.”
But he said that if Trump followed through on his threat of imposing new tariffs on Europe, it should be met by retaliatory tariffs, and further trade measures.
“Time has come to stand up against Trump.”
Poland's Nawrocki says hopes Greenland will be resolved diplomatically, stresses importance of US ties
Appearing on the same panel, Poland’s president Karol Nawrocki has defended his recent comments suggesting that the issue of Greenland should be primarily resolved bilaterally between Denmark and the US.
Speaking in Davos, he said he “recognised some problems about Greenland,” but said he looked at it in the broader security perspective as Poland was acutely aware of the Russian threat in particular and the US played an important role “on the eastern flank of Nato.”
Poland did not join the European reconnaissance mission to Greenland last week.
Nawrocki stressed that Poland hosts 10,000 American soldiers, and regularly buys American military equipment “which is the best” (although Stubb intervened there to say that Finnish tanks are also great), adding that the US-Polish relationship remains very close, based on elements of shared history and values, including “common independence heroes.”
Pushed on Greenland, Nawrocki said that there was need for solidarity in Europe, but “there is also the necessity to build good transatlantic relations” and “we know in Europe … how many mistakes had Europe done after and before 2022.”
“So I think that we should solve this problem in a diplomatic way. Of course, I appreciate Denmark’s voice, … it’s our partner, but I’m looking at the Greenland as a strategic point in a [broader] geopolitical issue between the free world of democracies … and Russia.”
'There are curve balls flying in different ... directions,' but we try to solve them, 'Trump whisperer' Stubb says
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb, introduced as a European Trump whisperer, also insisted that Nato is doing well, despite the turbulences, as “we are creating a new Nato where Europe takes more responsibility.”
Asked who can defuse the tensions, he jokes “Mark” and points at Rutte.
More seriously, he says that the transatlantic relationship is “much more direct than it’s ever actually been” with “solid” channels of communications.
But he admits:
“At times there are curve balls flying in different types of directions. We try to catch them and we tried to solve them.”
He says there are “two schools” of thought on Greenland: “one is to de-escalate, and the other one is to escalate to de-escalate.”
“I think at the end of the day, we will find an off-ramp on this.”
But he also credits Trump for the push to increase defence spending in recent years.
He says:
“If someone would have told me, in Washington DC., for the 75th anniversary of the alliance that we’re going to increase our defence expenditure next year to 5%, I would have said you have no clue about international relations or [need to] seek help with a doctor.”
“But we did,” he says.
He adds that he hopes that a commitment to work on “a real problem” of Arctic security will allow all parties to find an “off-ramp” to resolve the standoff over Greenland.
'Main issue is not Greenland, it's Ukraine,' Nato's Rutte says
Curiously, Rutte also pointedly says that “the main issue [for Nato] is not Greenland, … it’s Ukraine.”
“The risk here is that you focus, of course, on Greenland, because we have to make sure that that issue gets solved in an amicable way.
But the main issue is not Greenland. Now, the main issue is Ukraine.”
He says he is “little worried that we might drop the ball focusing so much on these other issues.”
“And as we speak, Russian missiles and Russian drones are attacking the energy infrastructure in Ukraine. We know that it is now -20 degrees in Kyiv. We know that Ukraine can only take care of 60% of its own electricity.
And yes, it is true the Russians have lost in December 1,000 people dead – not seriously wounded, but dead - a day. That’s over 30,000 in the month of December. In the 1980s, in, Afghanistan, the Soviets lost 20,000 in 10 years. Now they lose 30,000 a month in one month. But they still continue the attack, they still increase the attack.
It means that if we think that because of the €90bn the Commission has been able to bring together … or because the peace process is moving in the right direction, we can forget about the defence of Ukraine – don’t.
They need our support now, tomorrow and the day after.”
Rutte reiterates that Europe needs to ramp up its industrial base to be able to respond to any potential future challenge from Russia.
Nato's Rutte pushes back on Trump's doubts if Nato would come to help US if needed
Rutte navigates his role skillfully, as he faces another question on the future of Nato and Europe’s role in the alliance.
He says Nato needs the US, as the EU countries only contribute 25% of Nato’s GDP spending, and so the US president remains the leader of the free world and a fundamental part of Nato.
But he also pushed back on Trump’s suggestions – repeated last night – that he wasn’t sure if the European allies would come to the US help if needed.
“So last night in his presser he was doubtful whether the Europeans would come to the rescue if Article Five will be trigger.
And I tell him yes, they will, as they did on the on the 11 September in 2001, when for the first and only time, the Article Five was triggered.
I’ve no doubt, the US will come to the rescue here, we will come to the rescue of the US and we need to each other for our collective protection.”
'I'm working behind the scenes,' Nato's Rutte says as he declines to comment on Greenland
Meanwhile over in Davos, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has been repeatedly asked for his comments on Greenland, but he insisted his role required him to keep his views to himself and work with other leaders in private.
“You can be assured that I’m working on this issue behind the scenes, but I cannot do that in public. So, I’m sorry, no comment from me on Greenland.”
He adds that Trump is right that Nato needs to do more on protecting the Arctic more broadly.
But Deutsche Welle’s moderator Sarah Kelly points out that “sometimes behind the scenes comments do become public,” alluding to Trump posting his text messages from Rutte.
Nato secretary general smiles in response, but doesn’t take the bait.
EU parliament to discuss EU-US trade after of expected decision to freeze implementation of trade deal
European parliament will discuss EU and US relations in parliament at its plenary session in Strasbourg this morning.
The European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, France. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
Later today, likely early afternoon, representatives from the political groupings will meet to confirm their decision not to go ahead with a vote ratifying last summer’s US trade deal in the wake of Donald Trump’s declarations will take over Greenland.
This is a significant move by the parties as, unlike the political statements denouncing Trump’s threats, it will delay the implementation of the 0% tariffs on many US imports to the EU, agreed in August.
MEPs had been arguing for changes to the deal including the reduction in the 50% tariffs on steel and the 15% tariff on drinks, which had previously been set at close to zero.
Alaskan Inuits express unity with Greenlandic relatives over Trump threats
Nordic correspondent in Copenhagen
As Greenland, Denmark and much of the world braces for Donald Trump’s address to Davos, Alaskan Inuit representatives have said that Inuit people across the Arctic “stand united” and that the region must remain a “zone of peace”.
People walk along an icy street in Nuuk, Greenland. Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA
Alaska-Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC Alaska) said it stood in solidarity with “our Greenlandic relatives”.
Marie Greene, ICC Alaska President, said: “It is important that we go back to the founding purpose of Inuit Circumpolar Council, to stand united as Inuit, and that is the basis in which we stand united with our Greenlandic relatives.”
Robert (Bobby) Evans, an ICC Alaska board member, added: “Yes, we are Americans, but we were Inuit first, and always will be. It is part of our culture to take care of our people, and to stand beside our relatives, all across the Arctic.”
In a statement, the organisation reiterated the Inuit position “that the Arctic must remain a zone of peace” and called on the US government to “respect and uphold” international law that respects diplomacy and Inuit rights.
Vivian Korthuis, secretary of the ICC Alaska board, said: “For Inuit, peace in the Arctic is not an abstract principle; it is about protecting our homelands, our families, and the future of our children.”
Meanwhile, in Greenland, a tourism operator has withdrawn its controversial invite to Jeff Landry, the US special envoy to Greenland, to attend an annual dog sled race after criticism amid escalating tense US-Greenland relations.
Tourism operator Kristian Jeremiassen said he was “disappointed” that he had to withdraw the offer to visit Avannaata Qimussersua in March, reports Sermitsiaq.
'Future of Greenland is only for Greenlanders to decide,' EU's von der Leyen reiterates
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that “the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide” as she warned that Europe needs to “transform the ways in which we think and act” to step up to challenges posed by the rapidly changing world order.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images
She said that Europe needed to realise “we now live in a world defined by raw power,” adding that “in this increasingly lawless world, Europe needs its own levers of power” and abandon its “traditional caution” to build on its economic might and become more independent.
Speaking at the European parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, von der Leyen also repeated the key lines from her Davos speech yesterday, warning that the US threat of tariffs on EU partners over Greenland could send the relations into “a dangerous downward spiral” and “only embolden the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape.”
“Greenland is not just a territory in a key region of the world map, and the land rich in critical raw materials, a strategic outpost on emerging global sea routes. It’s all of these things, but above all, Greenland is home to a free and sovereign people. It is a nation with its sovereignty and its right to territorial integrity, and the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide,” she said.
Von der Leyen also said “it is more important than ever that we keep focusing on Ukraine,” continuing the bloc’s support for the wartorn country.
Morning opening: Brace, brace
What is he going to say, then?
After days of speculations, today is the day, as Donald Trump is set to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, talking about his latest thinking on the emerging new global order, business, trade, the US role in the world, and, erm, whatever else he will come up with on the spot.
US president Donald Trump departs after speaking during a press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on January 20, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
It’s fitting that his slot comes a day after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney warned in his now viral speech that the US-led global system of governance is enduring “a rupture,” defined by great power competition and a “fading” rules-based order.
“More recently, great powers began using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he said.
Yes, he meant Donald Trump.
Let’s see what the US presidents wants to say in response.
There is a very long list of things that European leaders – some in the room, some glued to their computers and TVs (good morning, Copenhagen) – will be looking out for as they want to figure out Trump’s next steps on Ukraine, Nato, and EU-US trade.
And it’s more likely than not that they will not like the answers.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessentoffered a taste of what is likely to come as he replied to a question on Danish investments in the UK last night by saying, in a bullish style that we have become accustomed to from this administration, that “Denmark’s investment in US treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant.”
Before then, we will also hear from a number of other key European leaders attending Davos, including Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte and Finland’s influential president Alexander Stubb. Let’s see what they have to say.
I will bring you all the updates here. It’s a busy day ahead.
It’s Wednesday, 21 January 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.