During the EU Commission press briefing on January 8, 2025 [1], regarding U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about Greenland, the EU spokespersons were ill-prepared to answer journalist’s questions. Despite having ample time to prepare, their responses were quite disappointing.
When questioned, EU Commission spokesperson Olof Gill adopted a defensive position. He started his part by saying, “Let’s dial it down a bit here,” and continued, “We are talking about fairly wild hypothetical stuff…”
That was quite a patronizing statement from the spokesperson. Even though the new administration hasn’t started, President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks are known to carry weight.
“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.”
The President-elect, Donald Trump, January 7, 2025, Mar-a-Lago
Referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sayings as “hypothetical” is disrespectful and undermines the EU’s readiness for an armed response by one of its allies. Iraq and Afghanistan are still in fresh memory. Overlooking them would make the EU Commission indifferent in the face of direct threats and a show of incompetence at times when a show of determination and strength was needed.
Ending his statement with, “So I hope that makes things sufficiently clear, and that’s all we can say from the trade side,” Mr. Gill again patronized the media representatives. Even though he said, “We have been preparing in detail with a dedicated team here in the European Commission for all potential outcomes of the European Union,” it didn’t explain the actual work the EU Commission has been doing for the past 12 months leading to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
In other words, Mr. Gill referred to the Commission’s stance that its work is secret and not open to public reproach. The EU Commission has consistently been criticized for its lack of transparency, highlighting the urgent need for improvement. There is no guarantee that the “dedicated team” is qualified to discuss the matter, as their expertise may be too limited to understand the gravity of the situation.
It isn’t up to the spokesperson to decide whether the press should stop questioning the EU Commission’s work or demand answers. The issues impacting Europe have long been shaped by the EU Commission’s lack of transparency: one can recognize when problems arise, yet people are often discouraged from questioning the Commission’s activities.
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Another spokesperson, Anitta Hipper, answered some of the questions. However, her presence didn’t improve their mutual presentation in the press briefing.
The media presented questions regarding the EU Commission’s stance on the prewar situation in Ukraine. Even then, the Commission regarded the invasion as hypothetical; however, today, it isn’t “hypothetical.” The Commission’s stance then was based on its incompetence to recognize the threat as it was. The Commission’s opinion was then that it wasn’t in Russia’s interest to invade Ukraine.
Anitta Hipper, EU Commission spokesperson, replied:
“It is a very theoretical question. (Article 42(7) of the treaty) would apply to Greenland. But we are indeed speaking of something extremely theoretical, which we will not want to elaborate, nor would I compare the situation with what happened in Ukraine.”
Spokesperson Hipper intentionally ignored the factuality of the question.
According to Josep Borrell, the then EU’s foreign and security policy chief, in 2022, Brussels was well informed about the impending attack in Ukraine, but the EU failed to react appropriately. The same is happening again, and the EU Commission remains complaisant while its leader, Ursula von der Leyen, is engaging in evading justice and too busy to lead.
“First, we did not believe that the war was coming. I have to recognize that here, in Brussels, the Americans were telling us, “They will attack, they will attack,” and we were quite reluctant to believe it.”
Josep Borrell, 10 October 2022, Brussels
Today, the U.S. has repeatedly warned that it may use military force in Greenland if necessary; however, top European diplomats consider this hypothetical. [2]
The media continued questioning the spokespersons for more satisfactory answers to the Greenland issue.
“Trump refused to rule out aggression against Greenland. This is not a hypothetical question. You said sovereignty is paramount, but you are not going to comment on a pretty naked threat from the incoming president of the United States. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around that. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for American marines to land in Greenland? Is that when it ceases to be hypothetical?”
Anita Hipper, EU Commission spokesperson, replied:
“We don’t see any need this moment in time to go beyond what we have said.”
This marks the conclusion of the Greenland portion of the press briefing.
Conclusion
Let’s hope the spokesperson’s words do not come back to haunt her and the EU Commission and that the Greenland issue is peacefully resolved.
The situation raises concerns about why the EU Commission does not take the direct threat from the president of the military superpower more seriously and continues to behave indifferently. This indifferent approach had become a hallmark of the EU Commission president and the EU Commission since 2019 when Ursula von der Leyen was elected its leader. Furthermore, the spokespersons’ patronizing tone is intended to stop the media from asking more questions and to silence the free press.
One might wonder under what circumstances the EU Commission would respond appropriately to a direct threat against one of its member states and when it would deem it necessary to counter such a threat with force, whether militarily or diplomatically. Thus far, the EU has not done either.
On the contrary, if any EU member were to threaten the sovereignty of the United States, the response from the U.S. president would likely be very different from that of the EU Commission.
Citizens of Europe have forgotten that the EU Commission exists to serve the European Union and its residents, not to function as a political playground for personal ambitions. Unless the people of the European Union start demanding accountability, the situation will worsen over time.
References
[1] “EU Dodges Questions on Trump’s Proposed Invasion of Greenland – POLITICO.” Accessed January 9, 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-dodges-questions-donald-trump-invasion-greenland-military/
[2] “Trump Won’t Rule out Military Force to Retake Panama Canal, Threatens ‘all Hell Will Break out’ over Israeli Hostages – ABC News.” Accessed January 9, 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-make-remarks-mar-lago-2-weeks-taking/story?id=117416274
Photo by EmDee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
