EU Leader Warns of 'End of NATO' as Trump Ramps Up Threats to Take Over Greenland

The European Union's defense commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, said Monday that Europe must build up its military capabilities as President Donald Trump threatens to rip up the central agreement that's underpinned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for more than 75 years with his escalating demand that the US should be able to take control of Greenland—a semiautonomous territory of NATO founding member Denmark.

Kubilius said he agreed with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's recent assessment that a US takeover of Greenland, home to about 56,000 people, "will be the end of NATO."

"But also among people it will be also very, very negative," Kubilius told Reuters at a security conference in Sweden.

Trump first expressed a desire to take control of Greenland during his first term. The vast island is in a geopolitically strategic location as countries begin to use the Arctic Ocean for shipping routes, and has stores of rare earth minerals.

The president has intensified his threats against the territory following his invasion of Venezuela and the US military's abduction of President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, with White House officials saying Trump has the right to take control of any country he wants to in order to control their resources.

On Air Force One on Sunday, Trump told reporters that he has not yet proposed a deal to Denmark and said "Greenland should make the deal." He added that he does not care whether a takeover of Greenland "affects NATO."

"They need us more than we need them," said the president.

Trump also said in the Oval Office Sunday that owning Greenland is “psychologically important for me.”

"Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base," said Trump.

The US already owns a military base in Greenland, but Trump has claimed military presence in the territory is not enough to fend off what he claims are imminent threats from China and Russia.

Kubilius said that should NATO fall apart due to a US operation aimed at taking Greenland by force from its longtime ally, "it will be a very big challenge to be ready to defend Europe, being independent, being without the United States."

"The question would be how we can use in that case NATO structures, how they can be, you know, become a basis for European pillar of NATO," he said. "But NATO such as it is now definitely will not exist anymore."

Greenland's govermment on Monday issued a statement reiterating its previous warnings that it is "part of the kingdom of Denmark."

“As part of the Danish Commonwealth, Greenland is a member of NATO and the defense of Greenland must therefore be [done] through NATO," reads the statement.

Considering that six NATO member states in Europe have expressed firm opposition to Trump's plan, the government said, "Greenland will increase its efforts to ensure that the defense of Greenland takes place under the auspices of NATO."

"The government coalition in Greenland will therefore work with Denmark to ensure that the dialogue on and development of the defense in Greenland takes place within the framework of NATO cooperation," officials added.

In addition to the NATO agreement, Kublius said, Article 42.7 of the European Union Treaty obligates member states to come to Denmark's defense if Greenland is attacked.

"It will depend very much on Denmark, how they will react, what will be their position, but definitely there is such an obligation of member states to come for mutual assistance if another member state is facing military aggression," he said.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday also expressed concern that a military attack on Greenland would mean the US was at war "with Europe, with England, with France."

"An attempt to 'annex' Greenland would be the functional end of NATO," said Murphy. "And final evidence that Trump is permanently distracted by things that have nothing to do with the American people—like Venezuela, his new White House ballroom, and now Greenland."