France's Macron to visit Greenland to stop the US 'preying' on it June 14, 2025

Macron will discuss Arctic security and the melting of glaciers, his team said (Olivier MORIN) (Olivier MORIN/AFP/AFP)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

France's Macron to visit Greenland to stop the US 'preying' on it

Valerie Leroux

French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit Greenland on Sunday to ensure there is "no preying" on the autonomous Danish territory, the first such trip by a foreign leader since US President Donald Trump's threats to seize it.

"I'm going to say: 'We're here, and we're ready to reinvest ourselves so that there is no preying'" on it, Macron said a few days ahead of his trip.

Trump has repeatedly said the US needs the strategically located, resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.

A majority in Greenland favours independence in the long term, and both Danish and Greenlandic leaders have insisted that the autonomous territory must decide its future. They have repeatedly said Washington "will never get Greenland".

The deep sea, Greenland and Antarctica are "not for sale", Macron said on Monday at a UN oceans summit, remarks directed at Trump's expansionist claims.

US Vice President JD Vance conducted a visit to Greenland in March that was seen as a provocation by both Nuuk and Copenhagen.

But Macron is travelling at the invitation of the territory's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and Danish leader Mette Frederiksen.

Macron's trip will be "a signal in itself made at the request of Danish and Greenlandic authorities", his office said.

He will carry a message of "European solidarity and support for Greenland's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it added.

- Arctic security

The French president would also discuss "Arctic security", and how to include the territory in "European action" to contribute to its development, while "respecting its sovereignty.

Copenhagen in January announced a $2-billion plan to boost its military presence in the Arctic region.

On the world's largest island, 80 percent of which is ice, Macron will also discuss the alarming melting of glaciers, his team said.

Five of the last six years have seen the most rapid glacier retreat on record, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said.

Beyond the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, more than 275,000 glaciers worldwide cover approximately 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 square miles), the WMO said.

But they are rapidly shrinking due to climate change, contributing to rising sea levels.

Macron will fly over a glacier as part of his trip, during which he will at all times be accompanied by both the Greenlandic and Danish premiers.

His office said France wished to "massively reinvest in the knowledge of these ecosystems" in the tradition of French explorer Paul-Emile Victor, who visited the area from the 1930s onwards.

He will then visit an EU-funded hydroelectric station, followed by a meeting with both leaders on a Danish helicopter carrier.

Macron will travel on to Canada after the Greenland visit for a G7 summit.

During his visit to the Pituffik military base, Vance in late March castigated Denmark for not having "done a good job by the people of Greenland", alleging they had neglected security.

Polls indicate that the vast majority of the island's 57,000 inhabitants want to become independent from Denmark -- but do not wish to become part of the United States.

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