Denmark announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to strengthen military cooperation with the United States and improve American military access to Danish military bases.
The agreement between the two NATO allies follows similar agreements recently signed between the United States and its Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland.
Prime Minister Mette said: “We are currently strengthening our bilateral defense cooperation.The agreement with the United States represents a milestone in Danish defense policy, as it involves US soldiers and supplies on Danish soil.” “I don’t want to hide the fact that this is also progress.” Frederiksen said at a press conference.
Denmark’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) allows U.S. personnel and materiel to be stationed at “certain military facilities in Denmark for both the short and long term.”
Specifically, the DCA grants the United States access to three Danish air bases in Karup, Sklydstrup and Aalborg, but the agreement does not extend to Denmark’s autonomous territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, according to the ministry. It didn’t come close.
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Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a news conference that the agreement would initially be valid for 10 years, after which either party could terminate it with one year’s notice.
Lund Poulsen also stressed that Denmark’s policy of not allowing the deployment of nuclear weapons within the country remains unchanged.
Finland announced last week that a deal had been agreed giving the United States access to 15 military bases in Finland, and was signed in Washington on Monday.
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In early December, Sweden and the United States cleared the way for “U.S. military operations in Sweden, including the legal status of U.S. service members, access to deployment areas (and) prepositioning of military materiel,” according to a Pentagon statement. Signed an agreement to open. .
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 terrified Finland and Sweden, long neutral countries, and both countries applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Finland joined the Defense Alliance in April, but Sweden’s application has stalled and is currently the only Nordic country not in the alliance, as it awaits approval from treaty members Turkey and Hungary. There is.
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