Featured Image Credit: SIMON WOHLFAHRT/Getty
Topics: Donald Trump, Europe, Greenland, Politics, World News, Vladimir Putin
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Donald Trump, Europe, Greenland, Politics, World News, Vladimir Putin
NATO chief Mark Rutte has shared a poignant message amid tensions between America and Europe following Donald Trump's ambitions to acquire Greenland.
Trump has made it very clear that he would like the US to own Greenland and at one stage there were reports that the POTUS was considering a military takeover of the Danish territory if his offers to buy it continued to be turned down.
His plans have, of course, ruffled the feathers of European leaders who very clearly do not want America to get control of the world's largest island.
At one stage, things appeared to be growing so tense that Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk said that it would be 'the end of the world as we know it' if Trump gets his way.
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"An attempt to take over (part of) a NATO member state by another NATO member state would be a political disaster," he said at a press conference earlier this month.
"It would be the end of the world as we know it, which guaranteed a world based on NATO solidarity, which held back the evil forces associated with communist terror or other forms of aggression."
Other European countries have also expressed their concerns and opposed the POTUS' plans.
Amid the tensions, some leaders have suggested that the European army become separate from America's, despite them all being part of NATO.
Mark Rutte has quickly dismissed this suggestion though and told people who want this to happen to 'keep dreaming', adding that Vladimir Putin would 'love' it.
Speaking to the European Parliament in Brussels, Rutte shared, per Reuters: "I think there will be a lot of duplication and I wish you luck if you want to do it, because you have to find the men and women in uniform — they'll be on top of what is happening already.
"It will make things more complicated. I think Putin will love it. So think again."
He added: "If anyone thinks here... that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can't. We can't. We need each other."
Rutte further warned the countries that want to separate its army from America's: "You have to build up your own nuclear capability — that costs billions and billions of euros.
"You will lose then, in that scenario ... the ultimate guarantor of our freedom, which is the US nuclear umbrella. So hey, good luck."