​​​​​​Trump's threats must be taken seriously. His exercise of power knows no moral or legal limits: military and economic force are tools of pressure to obtain submission, not to defend democratic values. At the heart of this are predatory interests of power and profit, often linked to fossil fuels, which we cannot accept as the new normal. In the face of this, appeasement does not work. It is good that seven European leaders have signed a declaration defending Denmark and Greenland against renewed claims by the United States on the island, but it is a very serious problem that the EU institutions did not participate in the joint declaration. This is not just a NATO matter!

The European Union must command respect, defend the rules-based international order and reject faits accomplis imposed by force. This means acting as a single political actor, strengthening its strategic autonomy and accelerating towards a true political union, equipped with the institutional and financial means to make an impact. Leaving out those governments that prefer to be Trump and Putin's spoilers.

Greenland is a European territory, even though it has a special status, defined in a cooperation agreement with the EU in the 1980s, which gives it full sovereignty over its fishing resources. In any case, its citizens are European citizens, as they are Danish.

This is why immediate, visible and civil action is also needed: official visits by the European Parliament and the Commission, joint political initiatives with Denmark and Greenland, town twinning, exchanges between European civic associations and networks. Without militarising anything, it is possible to make it clear to everyone, including Trump, that Europe exists.

And we must not forget that freeing ourselves from dependence on American and Russian gas and oil is also an essential part of our freedom, and that continuing with greater determination with the Green Deal is our best guarantee of a future without fossil fuels but also without masters.

Unity is the first form of deterrence. Divided, we are vulnerable to blackmail; united, we can defend sovereignty, democracy and the European future.

(foto Gianluca Costantini)