Take Trump seriously on Greenland, Vance warns Europe

WASHINGTON, Jan 9: US Vice President JD Vance warned Europe on Thursday to take Donald Trump "seriously" on Greenland as the president ramps up threats against the Danish-ruled Arctic territory.

Vance accused fellow NATO member Denmark and the rest of Europe of failing to do enough to protect the strategically-located island from the designs of Russia and China.

European capitals have been scrambling to come up with a coordinated response after the White House said this week that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.

"I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously," Vance told a briefing at the White House when asked about Greenland.

Vance urged them to respond in particular to Trump's insistence that the United States needs the island for "missile defense," with Moscow and Beijing increasing military activities nearby and the Arctic ice melting due to climate change.

"So what we're asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously, because if they're not, the United States is going to have to do something about it," Vance said.

"What that is, I'll leave that to the president as we continue to engage in diplomacy with our European friends and everybody on this particular topic."

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Friday she does not believe the United States will attack Greenland, but that its "assertive methods" were intended to dissuade interference from other countries.

Meloni said NATO should focus more on the Arctic region and ensure a "significant presence" of allies to preserve security and keep out hostile countries.

The far-right leader and Donald Trump ally is often an outlier in Europe for defending the positions of the US president, who has offered to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action against the Danish-ruled Arctic territory.    �"AFP