Denmark will grant the United States of Donald Trump large military powers on its national territory, including practically unlimited access, with complete sovereignty, on three air bases.
The Copenhagen Parliament has approved a very large majority of a new defense agreement with the USA which has been strongly criticized by political exponents and human rights organizations, which fear a limitation of national sovereignty.
The agreement
The agreement provides that US soldiers will be able to operate freely in the bases of Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg, but also outside of them, with military police powers in the area on Danish civilians. Among the activities planned, the parking of troops, the storage of war material, maintenance and training are between the activities. In addition, the agreement provides that American soldiers remain under the US jurisdiction even if they were to commit crimes in Denmark.
The pact had initially been achieved with the administration of the former president Joe Biden in December 2023, but many now asked that it was not ratified in the light of Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, Danish territory, but instead the government and Parliament considered to proceed the same.
Danish sovereignty at risk
And so the law was approved with 94 votes in favor and 11 against. Among the critical voices, that of Dragsted leather, leader of the left party Unity List: “It is an agreement harmful to the country. We will have areas of Denmark under American jurisdiction, where the Danish authorities will not be able to exercise control and where abuses could occur on prisoners. It is a gigantic failure towards the Danish population”.
Trump insists: “We will take 100%Greenland, even by force”
But the premier puts Frederiksen defended the agreement by stating that “the problem is not an excessive involvement of the United States in Europe. On the contrary, the risk is that they disengage and retreat troops or stop supporting Ukraine”. For its part, the Danish Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, has guaranteed that the Danish authorities will have “the primary responsibility for safety both within and outside the structures covered by the agreement”.
The agreement is irrevocable for 10 years, but the Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen claimed that if the United States should take control of Greenland, Denmark could retire in advance.
Fears for citizens’ rights
The Danish Institute for Human Rights launched the alarm on the potential effects of the agreement. “If the bill is approved and American soldiers will perform illegal acts in Denmark, it will be out of Danish control and beyond the scope of the national judicial system to pursue them,” said the researcher Peter Vedel Kessing to the Guardian.
According to the Institute, the US military could also prevent events outside the bases, without possibility for the Danish authorities to intervene.
