As Denmark on Tuesday takes over the rotating EU presidency,Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that priority will be given to boosting defence capabilitiesin Europe amid Russia's war in Ukraine and US threats to Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory.
Pushing countries to keep vows to boostdefencespending and bolstering Europe's "dangerous" security will topDenmark's agenda as it takes over theEuropean Union's rotating presidency on Tuesday, according to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Denmark is among European nations put on edge byRussia's 2022 invasion ofUkraineand who have already increased military spending.
"We want something with our presidency. Security is clearly defined as the top priority," Frederiksen said in an interview with the Politiken daily published on Sunday.
"We have a newNATOgoal that has been adopted. For that to happen, we need to rearm Europe. Once the NATO goal is in place, most other things come down to EU policy," she said.
NATO members agreed last weekto invest 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on core military spending and 1.5 percent on broader security-related areas such as infrastructure by 2035.
Spain has called the goal "unreasonable" and asked for flexibility.
Read moreSpain refuses to commit to 5% NATO defence spending target
During its six month turn as EU president, Denmark wants to push ahead with EU plans presented in March to increase EU defence capabilities by simplifying procedures and offering countries loans to finance investment in Europe's defence industry.
Europe's security situation is "unstable, and because it's unstable, it's dangerous", Frederiksen told Politiken.
"If we look at the history of Europe, we know that conflicts tend to spread. There is so much tension today and that on its own can generate more tension," she added.
A Secure Europe
Denmark is one of Europe's biggest donors of aid to Ukraine.
In power since 2019, Frederiksen has significantly increased Denmark's defence spending to more than three percent of GDP.
Copenhagen has been a staunch US ally but has increasingly switched its focus to European security after US PresidentDonald Trump's threats to annexGreenland, a Danish autonomous territory.
In its programme for "A Secure Europe", the Danish EU presidency has also prioritised the fight against illegal migration, vowing to come up with "new and innovative solutions".
Denmark's strict migration policies have spread across Europe, and the country hopes to build EU consensus on externalising asylum procedures outside Europe, and restricting the scope of rulings from the European Court of Human Rights.
"Irregular migration cannot be allowed to threaten European cohesion," Denmark said in its official EU presidency programme.
The Scandinavian country recently joined Italy and seven other nations to seek a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights to allow for changes to migration policy, arguing that the text sometimes protects "the wrong people".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
