“We won’t tolerate that the EU is on the menu” of predatory powers, declared the Chair of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer of France, on Tuesday 13 January, while the recent intervention by the United States in Venezuela has given more substance to the hypothesis of a US takeover of Greenland, a territory under Danish sovereignty.
In response to the acceleration of geopolitical plate tectonics since Donald Trump’s return to power, “a visible European response is needed”, said Mrs Hayer, who believes that this response will involve developing a deterrence package to dissuade the major powers from taking action.
In terms of concrete initiatives, “nothing should be excluded” within the limits set by the European treaties, said the MEP. She listed the following possible actions: - “integrate Greenland into a revised strategy for the Arctic region”, which includes both economic and security aspects and brings together the EU and third countries such as “the United Kingdom, Canada and Iceland”; - set up a naval deterrent force patrolling off Greenland; - create a “European Security Council”; - consider the unprecedented use of the “anti-coercion mechanism”, which authorises the EU to adopt retaliatory measures against a third country that exercises economic coercion over the EU or a Member State; - use the power conferred by the internal market, both to boost competitiveness and/or to condition access to foreign companies, “even if it hurts at first”; - build a sphere of influence in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood through alliances, cooperation agreements and economic partnerships.
EU-US trade agreement. Asked what position Parliament might adopt in a few weeks’ time on the economic agreement sealed in July 2025 with Washington (see EUROPE 13689/1, 13690/1), the Chairwoman of the Renew Europe Group felt that “everything (was) open”. This agreement is “unbalanced and bad for Europe” and, while it was supposed to bring “predictability and stability”, it does not curb the attacks on Europe’s “regulatory sovereignty”, she argued.
In her view, the Parliament’s vote will be highly political and, if it is to go ahead, conditions such as the possible “reversibility” of the measures depending on the behaviour of the United States towards the EU will have to be added.
The same applies to the pressure exerted by Washington on the EU’s digital rules, in the name of a certain conception of freedom of expression. “It’s not about attacking, it’s about being respected. (...) Mr Trump needs to know that, if we are attacked, we have the means to respond”, stressed Mrs Hayer, noting that American ‘Big Tech’ “needs our market”.
At a time when an appeal is opening in France over the fictitious employment of parliamentary assistants by MEPs from the far-right Rassemblement National party (see EUROPE 13611/2), Mrs Hayer also described as “very serious” the fact that no one is denying rumours that the United States may sanction French judges investigating the case. “This is the hypocrisy of the far right in France”, which was at the forefront of support for Donald Trump and is now talking about respect for international law, she criticised. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)