A Danish MEP denounced a proposal by an American lawmaker to rename Greenland “Red, White and Blueland” as “absurd” and damaging to diplomatic relations.
Earl “Buddy” Carter, a Republican member of Congress loyal to Donald Trump, introduced a bill to allow the U.S. to acquire Greenland, a self-ruling Danish territory and change its name to a patriotic reference to the American flag.
“America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,” Carter said in a statement Tuesday. “We will proudly welcome [Greenland’s] people to join the freest nation to ever exist.”
Danish MEP Anders Vistisen, from the right-wing Danish People’s Party, hit back late Tuesday, saying the legislative stunt would undermine Washington’s relationship with Denmark.
“There is clearly a need for more adults in the room when the U.S. administration formulates foreign policy,” he told POLITICO. “If these people can’t see how absurd they appear, they are out of touch with reality.”
Trump has been fixated on acquiring Greenland, claiming the mineral-rich Arctic island is vital to American security. He has refused to rule out using economic coercion or military force to seize Greenland, adding to the alarm in Copenhagen and other European capitals.
But lawmakers in Denmark and Greenland have pushed back, saying the island — a Danish territory since 1953 and a colony before that — is not up for grabs.
“Greenland is not for sale, and the only thing the U.S. achieves with this behavior is alienating one of its most loyal and reliable allies in Europe,” said Vistisen, the chief whip of the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament. “The U.S. doesn’t grow stronger by losing such an ally — only weaker and more irrelevant to the world.”
Carter’s bill is not the first aiming to empower a U.S. takeover. Last month, several Republican lawmakers co-sponsored the “Make Greenland Great Again Act” to allow Trump to enter into negotiations with Denmark to purchase Greenland.
In the U.S., most bills must first go to a relevant committee, where they may be debated and possibly amended before they can be voted on. It is not uncommon for frivolous bills to simply be ignored — a tactic called pigeonholing — which prevents them from advancing to a vote.
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