Open letter to top EU officials Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and members of the European Parliament 

I am writing this because the issues of European credibility, dignity and territorial integrity are no longer matters for behind-closed-doors diplomacy. They are matters of survival for the European project.

I am a citizen of Cyprus. I was raised to believe in the EU as a “community of values” and a “protector of law”. However, as I witness your response to the expansionist threats against Greenland, I am overcome with a long-standing and profound sense of shame – a shame that has festered for some time and which I know is shared by millions of my fellow Europeans.

The double standard is a Moral Sickness. As a Cypriot, I have endured foreign occupation for over 50 years. I have watched the EU rightfully ask its citizens to sacrifice immensely to support the just cause of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

We have shouldered economic burdens and shifted our entire security posture to uphold the principle that borders cannot be redrawn by force, and that the strong cannot simply take what they want from the weak. Yet, when an “ally” like the United States treats the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland like a real estate transaction, the response from Brussels has been tepid at best.

President Trump is treating 57,000 Greenlanders – our fellow Europeans – like subjects rather than citizens, openly stating that the US will take Greenland “whether they like it or not” through a deal made “the easy way or the hard way”.

It is insulting and humiliating for the EU institutions to allow an ally to speak of our soil and our people with such total disrespect without harsh words in return. It is a betrayal of the EU project and it gives rise to the growing perception shared my millions of Europeans,  that for the Brussels, “international law” is not a compass but  a tool of convenience.

I welcome the deployment of symbolic military contingents to Greenland by France, Germany, and other member states. These forces, though modest in size, represent a crucial tripwire – a declaration that European soil is not negotiable. However, the response from Washington has been yet another offending act of coercion: the announcement of punitive tariffs effective February 1. I also applaud Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Marcon for their bold stand at Davos against Trump’s coercive tariffs and Greenland threats. Calling out these tactics as unacceptable blackmail, vowing an unflinching and united response, and pushing for true European independence are all welcome remarks that have been long overdue.

The upcoming emergency meeting of EU heads of state is the moment of truth. If the union allows its members to be blackmailed by trade penalties for simply defending European soil, then our “strategic autonomy” is a myth.

I have attached a political caricature to this email which I believe captures the current mood of many Europeans: the perception that our leadership has moved from sovereign dignity to submissive vassalage. While we are asked to stand tall against the East, we are being forced to our knees in the West.

What European sovereignty demands

Activate the “Trade Bazooka”: The Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) was designed for exactly this type of blackmail. I urge the Commission to move beyond dialogue and prepare immediate, symmetrical sanctions to counter the February 1 tariffs. Show that Europe cannot be coerced.

End Strategic Vagueness: Move beyond empty reassurances. True strategic autonomy in the Arctic requires you to move from press statements to substantive, coordinated defence actions and other measures (EU rapid response forces, enhancing Nato interoperability specifically for Arctic defence, and  other contingency plans).

End selective sovereignty: The same rigour we demand for Ukraine’s borders must apply to every member state – including Cyprus, which remains partially occupied, and Denmark, whose territory is now openly threatened. Selective sovereignty is no sovereignty at all.

I am sharing this because the public deserves to know why their leaders remain “silent” while our own borders are treated as items for sale and our people are disrespected. If we do not stand together now, the very idea of the EU project will collapse into a geopolitical footnote. EU faces an existential threat. It should be treated as such with vigour and resolve.

I recognise that I am simply a private citizen – one voice among 450 million. You may find it easy to set this letter aside. But if this union has become so disconnected that a citizen pointing out a clear threat to our collective dignity and sovereignty does not merit a substantive response, then we have already lost the very values, principles and democracy we claim to defend.

History is watching.

Stelios Liassides, citizen of Cyprus, citizen of the EU