COPENHAGEN: A former Danish leader has warned that Europe’s push for self-reliance in defense could accidentally hand a victory to Russia’s axis unless NATO remains intact.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt delivered the message at the International Bar Association’s annual conference on 5 October. Her remarks land as shifting geopolitics force the continent to reconsider how it funds and structures its own protection.
Thorning-Schmidt, who led Denmark from 2011 to 2015, told IBA executive director Mark Ellis that European capitals must shoulder a far heavier share of the security burden. However, she rejected the notion that deeper European defense investment should replace the transatlantic framework. Removing American leadership from the equation, she argued, only empowers Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran.
“If you weaken NATO, you strengthen” those adversaries, she said.
The former prime minister also touched on Greenland, describing the territory as central to Arctic security debates. She framed the recent Denmark-Greenland-US agreement as one of Denmark’s most consequential foreign policy moments in decades. Parliamentary ratification, she suggested, would give the deal the institutional standing it deserves while preserving Greenland’s autonomy.
On Ukraine, Thorning-Schmidt urged Europe not only to maintain sanctions but to escalate economic pressure. She pointed to frozen Russian state assets as a funding source for Kyiv and called for more creative efforts to disrupt a Russian war economy she described as corrupt and oligarch-driven.
The stakes reach beyond Ukraine’s borders, she warned. A Russian breakthrough could tempt Moscow to probe Baltic defenses next. Waiting years before recognizing the scale of support Kyiv needed would amount to a strategic failure.
The conversation then pivoted to digital governance. As co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Board, Thorning-Schmidt defended the body’s independence and its mandate to weigh company policies against international human rights standards. The core tension, she noted, lies in determining where one person’s free expression ends and another’s harm begins.
Her overarching point: Europe faces a moment where democratic resilience, institutional strength and hard political choices can no longer be assumed. The decisions made now will define the continent’s security for decades.
