The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Salvini, was extremely critical of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde and a number of European politicians, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at a congress of leaders of right-wing conservative parties that formed the European Parliament faction "Patriots of Europe". In his speech, Salvini, who leads the League party, wished Scholz to go and defend Greenland after the elections in Germany.
„In February, there will be elections in Germany and this will be a historic opportunity to change the course of things. The worst government since World War II has led to a standstill in Europe's economic engine, to the decline of the country and, as a result, to the decline of all of Europe. And this "genius" Instead of taking care of the closing factories, Scholz wants to send a NATO contingent to defend Greenland (which US President Donald Trump claims). "I hope that German voters will make him happy and after the elections on February 23 they will give him a ticket to Greenland, which he can defend," Salvini said.
He accused von der Leyen and Brussels officials of "political, economic, industrial suicide," recalling that Brussels had admitted its mistakes. "So why should we trust them anymore?", the Italian politician concluded. He mentioned elections in a number of countries, including Romania, the Czech Republic, Austria, and suggested a choice be made "between the past of George Soros and the future of Elon Musk." Salvini called the support of various media outlets and NGOs for disinformation, as well as interference in electoral processes, as happened in Romania (where the results of the first round of the presidential election were annulled), a dangerous phenomenon.
Earlier, Scholz said that NATO's presence in Greenland should be increased in view of US President Donald Trump's claims to the island.
On January 7, Trump expressed the opinion that Greenland should join the United States. He threatened to impose high trade tariffs on Denmark unless it gives up the island. Already during his first presidential term, Trump proposed buying Greenland. As then, the Danish and Greenlandic authorities rejected this idea.
Greenland is part of Denmark as an autonomous territory. In 1951, Washington and Copenhagen, in addition to their commitments to the NATO alliance, signed the Greenland Defense Treaty. In accordance with it, the United States undertook to defend the island from aggression. It is home to the American Pituffik space base, which performs the tasks of a missile attack warning system and control of the Arctic zone.