Whenever Greenland is mentioned, the sovereigntist camp goes into a tailspin. The reform of the Danish armed forces

Amidst the current panic and ignorance surrounding Moroccan migrants in Ceuta, the Schengen Area and Spain’s non-existent ‘pull factor’, there has also been discussion of territorial annexations. Some experts have posed a provocative question: what would happen if Morocco decided to annex the Spanish exclaves into its territory, whilst Donald Trump decided to annex Greenland, a Danish territory? Sovereigntists are very united on the migration issue, but naturally they are up in arms over sovereignty, and the American president has given them new cause for anxiety, given that, in the midst of the discussions on Ceuta, he said that Greenland will be American by the end of his term of office. 

There is clearly a major difference between any Moroccan ambitions and the explicit American ambitions, because Greenland is not only a Danish territory but also a territory within NATO: during these months of relentless Trumpian propaganda about the Danish ‘chunk of ice’ in the Arctic, Europeans have had to consider the possibility of a clash between members (soldiers) of the Atlantic Alliance, and their response has been very firm and united against American interference. This week in Denmark, the military reform announced in 2024 – in response to the Russian threat – has begun, and it has become increasingly urgent since Trump started posting maps on social media in which Greenland (and also Canada) is marked as American territory. On Monday, around 1,600 Danish recruits began the new conscription scheme, which has been extended to include women and lasts for eleven months (previously four): the number of conscripts is set to rise from 5,000 to 7,500 per year by 2033. At the end of August, for the first time, a company of 100 new soldiers will be deployed to Greenland to serve for one month, taking over operational duties from professional troops. During the last NATO summit, held in Ankara in July, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, had to reiterate that her country is ready to defend every centimetre of the Alliance’s territory, “including our own”.