Latest news with #Karup
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Denmark votes for defence bill giving US access to its airbases
Denmark has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new defence agreement giving the US sweeping powers on Danish soil, including 'unhindered access' to its airbases. The deal, which has been strongly criticised by politicians and human rights experts, means US soldiers in Denmark will remain under US jurisdiction. It gives US soldiers access to Danish airbases in three Danish cities – Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg – and grants American soldiers and military police powers over Danish civilians at these locations and outside them. If US soldiers were to commit a crime in Denmark, they would be punished under the US, not Danish, legal system in the first instance. The US will also be able to carry out military activities in and from Denmark – including stationing personnel, storing military material and equipment, maintenance, training and exercise activities. Despite heightened tensions between the US and Denmark amid Donald Trump's unprecedented push to acquire Greenland – a strategically vital part of the Danish kingdom – and reports US intelligence agencies were ordered to increase espionage in the territory, a broad majority of the Danish parliament (Folketinget) voted in support of adopting the agreement. A total of 94 MPs voted for the bill and 11 against. Just before the vote, the leader of the Unity List party, Pelle Dragsted, said the agreement was 'harmful to the country'. 'It is an agreement that means that we will have areas in Denmark that are under American jurisdiction. Where Danish authorities cannot exercise control. And where mistreatment of prisoners can occur,' he said. 'It is a gigantic failure towards the Danish population.' The agreement was signed under the Biden administration in December 2023. Since Trump's return to office, relations between Copenhagen and Washington DC have altered dramatically. Some politicians believe the new agreement could surrender Danish sovereignty and even be a violation of the Danish constitution. The Danish government has said this is not the case. The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the situation between the two countries made it even more necessary to maintain close ties. 'The problem is not too much involvement from the US in Europe. On the contrary, the risk is that the US will withdraw and move troops away or stop donations to Ukraine,' she said. At a consultation on Tuesday, the Danish justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said Danish authorities will have 'primary safety responsibility both on and off the facilities covered by the agreement'. The Danish Institute for Human Rights has said the bill risks giving US soldiers the right to stop demonstrations outside their bases and would prevent Denmark from prosecuting them if they used excessive force. Peter Vedel Kessing, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, told the Guardian in May: 'If the bill is passed and American soldiers carry out illegal acts in Denmark, it will be beyond Danish control and outside the reach of the Danish legal system to prosecute such actions.'
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Alarm over defence agreement giving US ‘unhindered access' to Danish airbases
When Copenhagen signed a new defence agreement giving the US 'unhindered access' to Danish airbases in December 2023, the idea of granting sweeping powers to US forces on Danish soil was quite a different proposition to what it is today. The US, then under the Biden administration, was an unwavering Nato ally that Denmark had followed into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Nordic neighbours Sweden, Finland and Norway had similar agreements with the US. But then Donald Trump returned to power, making an unprecedented push to acquire or seize Greenland, a strategically vital part of the Danish kingdom. He has refused to rule out using military force to take over the island, and US intelligence agencies have reportedly been ordered to increase espionage in the territory. Now, little more than a year on, as Denmark prepares to adopt the agreement next month after a vote in parliament on 11 June, when it is expected to be approved, fears are growing about its potential implications. The deal means US soldiers will be in Denmark under US jurisdiction, meaning that if they were to commit a crime anywhere in Denmark they would in the first instance be punished under the US, not Danish, legal system. It also gives US soldiers access to Danish air bases in three Danish cities – Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg - and gives American soldiers and military police powers over Danish civilians at these locations and outside them. And it allows the US to carry out military activities in and from Denmark – including stationing personnel, storing military material and equipment, maintenance, training and exercise activities. 'If the bill is passed, we risk that American soldiers will have the right to crack down on a demonstration outside one of their bases, in order to maintain security and control of the base,' Peter Vedel Kessing, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, which has advised the defence committee on legal issues, told the Guardian. 'If armed American soldiers use excessive force against demonstrators, Denmark will not have the possibility to prosecute them.' He added: 'If the bill is passed and American soldiers carry out illegal acts in Denmark, it will be beyond Danish control and outside the reach of the Danish legal system to prosecute such actions.' The bill should not be passed, said Vedel Kessing, until there is 'certainty' that the agreement does not violate 'the unwritten constitutional prohibition that forbids other states, including the US, from exercising official authority on Danish territory'. Alarm bells were raised last month when a ministry of defence consultation note said that Americans would be given the right to 'exercise powers over civilians on Danish territory if necessary for the use, operation and defence of, and control over, the agreed facilities and areas by the American forces'. At the time, the Danish unity party called the new US powers 'alarming'. The party's foreign affairs spokesperson, Trine Pertou Mach, told Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten: 'It is quite far-reaching that we are handing over law enforcement powers to a foreign country's military police.' According to the agreement it is irrevocable for 10 years. But last week, the Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said that if the US were to take over Greenland, Denmark would be able to pull out early. 'It goes without saying that a complete or partial American annexation of Greenland would entitle Denmark to terminate the defence cooperation agreement,' he wrote in a parliamentary response. The Danish ministry of defence told the Guardian that the new agreement will 'authorise the US forces to exercise all rights and authority necessary for US forces' use, operation, defence or control of agreed facilities and areas.' It would, they said, include 'taking proportionate measures to maintain or restore order and to protect US forces, US contractors, Danish contractors and dependents'. The spokesperson said these rights and authorities must be exercised in accordance with security plans that have been coordinated with appropriate authorities of Denmark. 'The Danish authorities will oversee how the security plans are implemented in practice in cooperation with US forces. The authority given to US forces on Danish territory according to article 6 is therefore not unlimited,' the spokesperson added. 'Finally, it is important to mention that the agreement specifies that, as a general principle for the agreement in its entirety, all activities under it are to be conducted with full respect for the sovereignty, constitution and constitutional practice, laws, and international legal obligations of Denmark.'
