President Nicusor Dan will attend on Thursday an extraordinary meeting of the European Council.
Heads of state and government from the European Union will attend on Thursday in Brussels, at 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT), an extraordinary summit, in order to discuss a common response to the US's attempts to take control over Greenland, spokesperson of European Council President Antonio Costa informed on Monday, according to EFE, agerpres reports.
The announcement came after a meeting of EU permanent representatives the previous day, during which possible retaliatory measures against Washington were discussed.
Also on Monday, the European Commission said it was ready to respond to the threat of new tariffs from US President Donald Trump, although the EU executive underscored that it is first committed to finding a diplomatic solution.
European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said that the priority is to engage, not to escalate, and to avoid the imposition of tariffs, because they would ultimately harm consumers and companies on both sides of the Atlantic, adding that if customs tariffs were imposed, the EU has the tools at its disposal and is ready to respond in order to do everything necessary to protect European economic interests.
At the meeting held on Sunday, ambassadors of the 27 member states raised the possibility of adopting retaliatory measures against the US worth 93 billion euro, an option that was already on the table last year but which The 27 abandoned in order to allow the trade agreement reached by Brussels and Washington in the summer.
This possible measure is frozen until 6 February, but EU countries are now examining the option of applying it if Trump ultimately imposes the tariffs.
Several countries - including France, Germany, Spain and Poland, according to diplomatic sources who spoke to EFE - called on Sunday for the activation, for the first time in history, of the anti-coercion instrument, which entered into force in 2023, to address a situation in which a third country seeks to pressure the EU or a member state to take a specific decision, by applying or attempting to apply measures which affect trade or investment.
This instrument would allow the European Commission to impose restrictions on imports and exports to the US, on US investments in the EU, to restrict the intellectual property rights of US companies or to ban them from participating in public tenders.
However, before adopting either of these two retaliatory measures, the search for a diplomatic solution and dialogue will be the EU's approach for the time being, diplomatic sources told EFE.
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