Welcome to the CER podcast, Unpacking Europe. I'm Armeida van Rai. I'm a senior research fellow with the CER in London.

Today we're going to be discussing how Greenland has once again become a flashpoint in the NATO alliance and what the future holds for the alliance. U.S. President Trump and others in his

administration have recently up the rhetoric again about making Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory

of the Kingdom of Denmark, fellow NATO ally, part of the US. This is just the latest challenge

for the alliance in what has been a difficult year in

transatlantic relations since Trump's return to office. The US has demands for burden shifting

and a transition to a European-led NATO, and Trump's attempt to seek rapprochement with Russia

over European and Ukrainian heads will shape an alliance that may look quite different from the one

we have today.

I have with me Professor Sten Renning, who is a professor of war studies and director of the Danish Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Southern Denmark, one of the most

preeminent experts on NATO, who is excellently placed to discuss and unpack all of this with me.

So, Sten, let's start with Greenland. Trump already talked about

his desire to take over Greenland, quote, whatever that actually means in practice in his first term.

And his former US ambassador to Denmark recently referred to this as unfinished business from his

first term. Up until recently, of course, it would have been unthinkable for us

to actually be discussing this in more detail. But after the illegal capture of Venezuela's president

Maduro, it seems like the stakes have risen and we have to take these threats seriously.

So can you just talk us through possible scenarios that you can see for a US, quote, takeover

of Greenland, whether that is political, economic,

or through military coercion and a possible European response.

The starting point for this is that any US takeover of Greenland, and by takeover, I understand that

the US would gain sovereignty, political control of Greenland.

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