00:30The Economic Forum is taking place this year as the United States ramping up Russian rhetoric regarding possibly Washington taking control over Greenland and all the threats to Denmark.
00:40Donald Trump is in town here in Dallas, expected also to meet the European leaders.
00:45What's Belgium's strategy when it comes to protecting Greenland and supporting Denmark?
00:49We absolutely need to be united on this issue.
00:53Frankly speaking, the attitude of the U.S. is incomprehensible and unnecessarily hostile.
01:01If they have concerns because maybe they have identified some threats in the region of the Arctic,
01:09OK, we are able to understand that and maybe we will discuss together in order to address those fears, those threats.
01:21And it already exists today a partnership, an agreement between the U.S. and Denmark
01:28in order to allow the U.S. to deploy armed forces on Greenland if necessary.
01:35They only have one military basis today.
01:38It is possible to have more in the future according to the current agreement.
01:43So it's not necessary to take on an aggressive manner, an hostile one, any square kilometers of Greenland.
01:52It is really a red line for the European countries.
01:56But how do you explain in this case why the United States and the U.S. administration
02:00is not listening to this argument coming from Europe, from the European allies, NATO allies?
02:05There is no rational explanation, frankly speaking.
02:08It is possible to address together those potential threats in the Arctic region.
02:15So let's do it.
02:16But having some blackmail, some threats against allies within the NATO family, this is totally unacceptable.
02:28So we will take the opportunity of the Davos meeting in order to share this message.
02:37The king of the Belgians and my prime minister will have a meeting with President Trump.
02:42And I hope that it will be possible in the coming days and weeks to go back to a more reasonable way of thinking and acting.
02:53I think it's crucial.
02:55It's not only a crisis.
02:56It is really a turning point.
02:58And when you face a turning point, it demands action and certainly not hesitation.
03:05And the threats, the additional ones related to some European countries, because they've decided to send some soldiers to Greenland,
03:16it's also something totally unacceptable.
03:19And it is crazy to listen to the U.S. explaining that the fact that some European countries have sent soldiers to Greenland is a kind of anti-American act.
03:36It is the opposite.
03:37It is the manner to demonstrate that we intend to take into account on a better manner than in the past the different fears expressed by the U.S.
03:50and that the NATO allies and especially the European countries have really the intention to take into account those fears
04:00and to secure in a better way the Arctic region in the future.
04:05Donald Trump started making the statements regarding Greenland on his first term since 2019.
04:10And the European Union really engaged in the diplomatic dialogue ever since.
04:14It's why we absolutely need to take into account this moment.
04:21And we cannot in Europe, we can no longer depend blindly on the security provided by the U.S.
04:32We have a date with ourselves and we absolutely need to develop our autonomic strategy on a military aspect, energetic aspect, technological ones also.
04:46Otherwise, we will have a week in Europe.
04:51And Europe is more than a political united institution.
04:59It is also a big force with 450 millions of people, with wealthy countries.
05:09We are not only one of the largest economic markets in the world.
05:13But we also have the possibility to be a geopolitical power.
05:18But it means that we absolutely need to act on a united manner.
05:24And it is maybe the biggest challenge we are currently facing within the EU.
05:29The political unity.
05:30Of course, of course.
05:32And we need to react and also to prepare some potential countermeasures in order to send a clear message to the United States.
05:42It is not acceptable the way they are treated their allies.
05:46So we will, of course, use diplomacy, diplomacy in action in order to desescalate the current tensions we have.
05:59And I hope it will be possible to find a reasonable solution in the coming weeks.
06:04Otherwise, we will be forced to use also the coercion instrument, for instance.
06:11Is Europe ready to go for that?
06:12Is Europe ready to go this far?
06:14I think that the current situation needs to act as a call to action for Europe.
06:20So if we want to avoid to be wicked, we absolutely need to demonstrate our capability to respond on a proportionate, significative and firm manner.
06:34Otherwise, we will lose our credibility and our respectability.
06:39And it is so crucial for Europe in order to act as a geopolitical power and an economical market, a reliable one, that we absolutely need to answer it firmly to the U.S.
06:54That's crystal clear.
06:55How is Belgium willing to treat the current situation?
06:59In the past, Belgium was among the countries with some of the lowest defense spendings, for example.
07:04Is this situation pushing the country to make rapid changes into that?
07:10Of course, of course.
07:11When you are on the crossroads, you have two choices.
07:18One, you follow the path to maybe a problem and not good issue and outcomes.
07:27Or you lead another way, the way of the reforms.
07:32And it is really the way that Belgium has decided to follow.
07:36So we have increased our spendings for military equipment.
07:41It was time.
07:42Frankly speaking, we were one of the, let's say, the bad pupils in the classroom.
07:49So now we have achieved last year the 2% GDP, and we will continue to increase our spendings for the defense sector.
07:58And we absolutely need to be at the rendezvous of our own responsibility.
08:05You know, defending, for instance, the international law, it's crucial for medium-sized countries like Belgium.
08:14Not out of naïveté, but because that's the only way we can defend ourselves, our population, our prosperity against any kind of hostile temptation coming from abroad.
08:30So it's why it's so crucial for the European countries to defend the international law and the rules-based order.
08:36And according to this, we consider that the United Nations remains the best, let's say, reliable framework and the best reliable context for promoting multilateralism discussions for peace and prosperity.
08:57And certainly not an initiative such as the Board of Peace, for instance.
09:02Board of Peace is another topic that is going to be discussed here at Davos with Donald Trump meeting the European leaders.
09:08What's the Belgian position on that?
09:10We have not been invited to be part of this board.
09:14And frankly speaking, when we have a look on the status, it is totally unacceptable.
09:20We have the opinion that through this initiative, President Trump is trying to replace the United Nations system and to create his own personal board.
09:36Because when you have a look on the status, it's not only the presidency of the United States, it's the presidency of Donald Trump himself with a veto rights on any kind of decision.
09:47And it is not acceptable.
09:50We absolutely need to reform the United Nations and maybe to create new opportunities for permanent member states coming from Africa or Latin America or Asia.
10:03But certainly not to create such a new one.
10:05But you do agree that it has to be reformed, the UN.
10:07Of course, of course.
10:08That's why there is a void which has to be somehow filled in.
10:11There is a current process of reforming the UN called UN-80, trying to merge some agencies to create new opportunities in order to be more efficient.
10:26But creating something new in order to bypass the United Nations, it is certainly not the way Belgium intend to follow and neither to support.
10:36Finally, and very, very briefly, another strategy coming from the United States is abrupt and last-minute announcements regarding the tariffs against certain countries.
10:45There was eight NATO members, there was France on Tuesday morning, it's your neighbor.
10:50How do you behave and what do you do if tomorrow that's Belgium?
10:53For more tariffs?
10:54We already act together with my different foreign minister, the different colleagues of the European countries, trying to identify how to react on an adequate, appropriate and firm manner.
11:11I had a meeting yesterday with some of my colleagues, discussing about that, under the lead of Kayakalas, our representative of the Commission for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.
11:25And, of course, it is not acceptable.
11:27We absolutely need to avoid any escalation on this tariff war, otherwise it will be bad for both parties, also for the U.S.
11:37We also have instruments in order to react, but I think that we prefer a reasonable solution that's a kind of escalation in threats from both sides of the oceans.
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