JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
European leaders met in Brussels this week for security talks. One thing that was high on the agenda was Greenland. President Donald Trump has threatened to take control of the island, suggesting it's important for maintaining regional security. But Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and as Denmark's prime minister reiterated this week, the island is not for sale. NPR's central Europe correspondent Rob Schmitz joins us now from the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Hi there.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Rob, President Trump's musings about the United States taking Greenland have surprised a whole lot of foreign policy experts on this side of the Atlantic. But tell us - how are people there in Denmark reacting to this?
SCHMITZ: Yeah, they're just as surprised. And from my conversations with Danes these past few days, I'd also say that many people here feel - they sort of feel a sense of betrayal.
SUMMERS: Say more about that. How so?
SCHMITZ: Yeah. So for decades, Denmark's been a close ally of the U.S. People here feel a sense of loyalty to the U.S. for its role in World War II and fending off the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. And in many ways, Denmark has stood by the U.S. by sending troops to U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the years. There's a partnership there that's based on history, so for President Trump to threaten to take a territory from Denmark feels very out of place. I spoke to Christine Nissen about this. She's a defense analyst for the think tank Europa.
CHRISTINE NISSEN: It has disrupted the Danish and the European world view in a way because for Denmark, appeasing the U.S. has been the No. 1 goal for Danish foreign policy, security policy, for the last couple of decades.
SCHMITZ: And Juana, you know, since the end of the Cold War, Danes have seen the U.S. as holding up Europe's security against adversaries, but, you know, they never really thought the U.S. would become an adversary.
SUMMERS: Right. And as we mentioned, Rob, Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and there's an election coming up there in Greenland in about two months. How does that election play into all of this?
SCHMITZ: Yeah. I mean, nobody thought that a parliamentary election on an island of 57,000 people would become international news, but, you know, here we are. We're already seeing evidence that people in Greenland are bracing themselves for this. Today, Greenland's Parliament debated a bill that would ban all foreign donations to political parties - a motion that was expected to pass. And in a recent poll on the island, 85% of Greenland's residents say they do not want to be part of the United States, and only 6% said that they would.
SUMMERS: Rob, I want to ask you - we are leaving to travel to Greenland in several days, so I'm really curious to hear from you how people on the ground there in Copenhagen are feeling about all of this.
SCHMITZ: Yeah. Well, it's - you're going to get a different sense when you go to Greenland, but I think here in Copenhagen, you know, for many here, this is the first time that many have thought about Greenland at all. I mean, even though it's an autonomous territory of Denmark's, nobody I spoke to had visited it. And in the past week, Danish media outlets even had apologized for mispronouncing the names of Greenland's politicians because they barely cover the island. And I've heard all this has provided an opportunity for many Danes to learn more about Greenland. And I spoke to Daniel Gerlo about the prospect of Greenland becoming a part of the U.S. He works as a plumber here in Copenhagen, and here's what he thinks.
DANIEL GERLO: If the people from Greenland wants to sell, if that's what they want, they should do it. I don't think the Danish people should decide. The people from Greenland, they should decide - is Denmark or American?
SUMMERS: And Rob, what I think I'm hearing him say there is that he thinks that selling Greenland to the U.S. should not be a decision for Denmark. Is that right?
SCHMITZ: Yeah. And, you know, this isn't such an uncommon opinion here. Danes tend to see Greenland for what it is - an autonomous region that is able to vote on its own independence if it wants to.
SUMMERS: That is NPR's Rob Schmitz, joining us from Copenhagen. Thank you so much.
SCHMITZ: Thank you.
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