French President Emmanuel Macron said that he does not want Greenland to become a zone of confrontation with the United States and advocated the adoption of international agreements that would regulate activities in this territory, similar to the agreements for the Arctic.
He said this on the air of the France 2 television channel.
"Greenland is an Arctic region and we want to do the same as in the Arctic, that is, to conclude international agreements that would regulate this area. We want to protect it, we want scientists to do their job, but we don't want it to become a zone of confrontation," the president said.
Commenting on his upcoming visit to the island, Macron explained that he wanted to express solidarity with Denmark, which includes Greenland, amid statements by US President Donald Trump about the possible annexation of the island to the US. He also said he wanted to demonstrate that he was "ready to make efforts to prevent predation and threats."
The French president will visit Greenland on June 15 to discuss security issues in the Arctic.
Speaking at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, which is being held in Nice, Macron stressed that he was "against the seizure of Greenland" by the US.
The French president announced his desire to ban access to social networks for children under 15.
“I support the ban on social networks for children under 15. And we can do it. Because all these platforms have the ability to verify age using facial recognition or identifiers“, he said, adding that France already has a database in which each student has an individual number and this can also be used to confirm a person's age.
Macron pointed to the existence of a large number of cases in which children who show aggressive behavior grow up in single-parent families and do not receive the necessary attention and education.
"I want to guarantee that this issue will be addressed at the European level. If this does not work, we will do it in France. We cannot wait," the president said.
The head of state said this, commenting on the events in the municipality of Nogent in northeastern France, where a 14-year-old teenager attacked a school employee with a knife and fatally wounded her. The attack occurred during a backpack check at the entrance, when a knife was found on him. Municipal police officers quickly detained the attacker, but his motives have not yet been established.
In addition, Macron confirmed that the country's authorities, following this murder, as well as against the background of previous attacks by teenagers using bladed weapons, intend to ban the sale of knives to minors. First of all, this concerns the ban on the sale of such goods on Internet sites.