Financial Times: European officials consider not Trump dangerous, but Musk

Senior EU officials consider the idea of US President-elect Donald Trump to include Greenland in the United States to be "insane", however, they believe that his loud statements at press conferences do not reflect his real plans, while Trump's ally Elon Musk is "really scary," writes the Financial Times.

"We expected something. We were planning something. But nothing so crazy," one of the European officials commented on Trump's statements about the annexation of Greenland.

On the other hand, the European interlocutors of the publication, who have already managed to hold talks with representatives of the Trump team, said that his associates are calm and quite reasonable, and "what Trump tells his people about his own plans is not what you hear at press conferences."

Nevertheless, Europeans see a certain difficulty in dealing with Musk and his interference in European politics.

"Musk is really scary," another EU official said.

Trump said on January 7 that Greenland should become part of the United States, and stressed its strategic importance for national security and the protection of the "free world," including from China and Russia. Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede, for his part, said that the island is not for sale and will never be sold. At the same time, Trump refused to promise not to use military force to establish control over Greenland.

Earlier, the Washington Post newspaper called Musk the "shadow president" of the United States after his active intervention in the process of discussing the bill on funding the federal government, which led to the threat of a shutdown. NBC previously reported that Musk's constant presence next to Trump and his behavior are beginning to irritate the circle of people close to Trump. According to them, Musk behaves like a co-president.

Earlier, Trump announced that during his second presidency, Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head the new department for achieving state efficiency (DOGE).