U.S. NATO allies say “Greenland belongs to its people” after Stephen Miller says it should be part of U.S.

European leaders released a joint statement Tuesday, outlining the importance of Arctic security, but stressing that “Greenland belongs to its people,” hours after White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller said it was “the formal position of the U.S. government… that Greenland should be part of the United States.”

Miller also said, in an interview Monday with CNN, that “the United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.”

Greenland has been a territory of Denmark for more than 300 years.

“NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up. We and many other Allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries,” the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the U.K. and Greenland said in their joint statement on Tuesday.

“Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the U.N. Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them. The United States is an essential partner in this endeavor, as a NATO ally and through the defense agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States of 1951,” the U.S. allies said.

“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said an American military move to seize control of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. 

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told local media on Monday. “That is, including our NATO, and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”

When asked Tuesday if the U.S. would use military force to take over Greenland, Miller told CNN: “The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking, of a military operation. Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”