EU leaders with ties to US President Donald Trump have yet to strongly push back against his recent comments, as pressure mounts to coordinate a joint European Union response to the US threat to Greenland.
President Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 10% tariffs on goods from European countries that oppose the sale of the Arctic island to the United States, and threatened to raise the tariffs to 25% if the United States does not allow the purchase of Greenland by June 1.
As the EU looks for ways to deal with the situation, the process of reaching a joint EU position could depend on three countries in particular: Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, the same day the president made his latest tariff threat on social media. In a speech on the flight back to Slovakia, Fico praised the bilateral relationship between the two countries, adding that Trump was also critical of the EU.
“While we have not shied away from our appreciation of the European Union, its competitiveness, its energy and immigration policies, we are completely united in seeing it as an institution in deep crisis,” Fico said in a video released Sunday, without mentioning Greenland or expressing solidarity with the countries Trump directly threatened.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán announced that he had received a letter from President Trump inviting him to join the Peace Commission, a group aimed at helping to establish and restore post-war governance in Gaza.
“Thanks to President Donald Trump, peace has come. Another letter has arrived. Hungary’s efforts towards peace are recognized. President Trump has invited Hungary to join the work as a founding member of the Peace Commission,” Prime Minister Orbán tweeted.
However, the Hungarian government has remained silent on President Trump’s latest threats. Prime Minister Orbán has previously said the Greenland issue can be discussed within NATO and there is no need to provoke an international crisis.
In a post on X on Monday afternoon, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said there was no question that Greenland was an autonomous territory of Denmark, but stopped short of calling for a response to President Trump’s threats.
“There is no doubt about that, but we support dialogue, not declaration,” Babiš wrote. “Foreign policy is about diplomacy, not about who posts the stronger statement on social media.”
Earlier, in an interview with the Hungarian conservative website Mandiner, Babiš said that Trump was not helping Europe, but rather the US plan to “Make America Great Again.”
Babiš also described himself as one of the biggest Trump supporters in Europe, naming Orbán and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
One outlier on Europe’s pro-Trump right was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who on Sunday criticized President Trump’s stance as a “mistake” that could be the result of a misunderstanding.
“The prediction of increased tariffs on countries that choose to contribute to Greenland’s security is wrong and I cannot agree with it,” Meloni said during a visit to South Korea.
European Council President Antonio Costa will convene a special EU summit on Thursday night to discuss the Greenland issue and agree on a collective response.
It would require agreement from Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but their positions are still unclear.
But when it comes to Greenland, unity is no excuse for paralysis, said Fabian Zureg, chief executive of the European Policy Center.
“If unity cannot be achieved, governments that are reluctant to act, such as Hungary, must be removed on a case-by-case basis, but exclusion must have consequences,” he said, arguing that states that prevent collective action at the European level should no longer be able to fully benefit from common defense, security cooperation and industrial investment.
“Solidarity is a two-way street and is not unconditional.”
