Hungary’s smallest neighbour boldly defies Trump’s will on Greenland

The Slovenian government has decided to dispatch two military officers to Greenland to prepare for and execute an international military exercise under Danish leadership, the Slovenian defence ministry announced on Saturday. Slovenia, Hungary’s smallest neighbour, spans just over 20,000 square kilometres and is home to a touch more than 2.1 million souls.

Even the Poles aren’t bold enough

According to the decision, the two officers will depart for Greenland in the coming days. The precise timing of the exercise will be settled later, but the ministry says the necessary procedures to prepare for participation are already underway. Slovenia is thus joining a growing roster of European nations. France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have already committed troops to Greenland, reports the Hungarian News Agency.

The government’s rationale underscores that Greenland and the Arctic feature prominently as a region of paramount strategic importance in NATO’s concept document. That same paper spells out the exercise’s aims: bolstering regional security and deepening alliance cooperation.

The decision also stipulates that should planning reveal a need for greater involvement from the Slovenian armed forces, the government will take a separate call on that front.

Trump, right at the outset of his second term, made no bones about Washington needing Greenland for defensive purposes. But after the successful Venezuelan presidential heist at the start of January, he’s ratcheted things up another notch, now threatening tariffs on any country daring to stand by Greenland and Denmark’s sovereignty. We’ve rounded up the backstory below:

• US lawmaker introduces bill to annex Greenland
• Greenland’s PM pushes back at Trump as NATO allies rally against US takeover talk
• Trump’s ambitions about Greenland could endanger climate research – and the future of Earth

Hungary guards Slovenia’s skies

Under Prime Minister Robert Golob, the Slovenian government has taken multiple swipes at Trump. Ljubljana rejected his peace-oriented stance on the Ukraine conflict outright, insisting Russia bears the blame for the war and that any settlement on Moscow’s terms would betray European interests.

Slovenia has likewise condemned America’s pro-Israel policy over Gaza, backing the Palestinian position at the International Court of Justice. Nor is the country keen to meet Washington’s demand that it splash 5 per cent of GDP on military spending. That said, two-thirds of Slovenes still back sticking with NATO membership.

Hungary, meanwhile, routinely polices the Baltic airspace, as well as that of Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia, with its Gripen jets.

Foreign policy course could shift

Parliamentary elections loom in Slovenia on 22 March. Polls cited by the Turkish news agency Anadolu show the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party holding a razor-thin lead, trailed by Prime Minister Robert Golob’s Freedom Movement. The social democrats in the ruling coalition and the opposition New Slovenia party could also snag seats in the 90-member legislature.