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This very day, a self-styled Coalition of the Committed, predominantly consisting of European heads of state, convened in Paris with envoys of the Trump administration, hoping to secure additional headway on a lasting peace deal for the embattled nation.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a framework to halt the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", nobody in that meeting wished to risk retaining the Washington involved.

Yet, there was an enormous unspoken issue in that impressive and sparkling summit, and the prevailing mood was exceptionally uneasy.

Consider the events of the past week: the US administration's divisive intervention in the South American nation and the President Trump's assertion soon after, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the viewpoint of national security".

This massive island is the world's biggest island – it's six times the size of Germany. It lies in the far north but is an semi-independent region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the summit, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was positioned facing two powerful individuals speaking on behalf of Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from European counterparts to refrain from provoking the US over the Greenland issue, in case that affects US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

The continent's officials would have much rather to separate the Arctic dispute and the debate on the war distinct. But with the diplomatic heat escalating from the White House and Copenhagen, representatives of leading European nations at the Paris meeting released a statement stating: "This territory is part of the alliance. Stability in the North must therefore be secured collectively, in cooperation with treaty partners including the United States".

"It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to determine on affairs concerning Denmark and Greenland," the statement continued.

The statement was greeted by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics say it was slow to be put together and, owing to the small number of endorsers to the declaration, it did not manage to show a Europe in agreement in objective.

"If there had been a unified declaration from all 27 European Union countries, along with NATO ally the UK, in defense of Copenhagen's control, that would have conveyed a strong warning to Washington," noted a European foreign policy expert.

Consider the contradiction at play at the European gathering. Numerous EU national and other leaders, including the alliance and the European Union, are attempting to secure the cooperation of the White House in safeguarding the future autonomy of a EU nation (the Eastern European nation) against the aggressive land claims of an external actor (Moscow), just after the US has entered sovereign Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also persistently actively challenging the sovereignty of another continental ally (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To compound the situation – Denmark and the US are both signatories of the transatlantic alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, in the view of Copenhagen, extremely key friends. Or were.

The issue is, were Trump to make good on his goal to acquire Greenland, would it mark not just an severe risk to the alliance but also a significant problem for the European Union?

Europe Risks Being Marginalized

This is far from the first instance Trump has voiced his determination to control the Arctic island. He's suggested acquiring it in the past. He's also left open the possibility of a military seizure.

Recently that the island is "vitally important right now, Greenland is covered with foreign naval assets all over the place. We need Greenland from the perspective of defense and Denmark is not going to be able to provide security".

Denmark refutes that assertion. It not long ago vowed to allocate $4bn in Greenland defence for boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a treaty, the US operates a military base already on Greenland – established at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has cut the number of personnel there from around 10,000 during the height of that era to about 200 and the US has long been accused of neglecting polar defense, until now.

Denmark has signaled it is willing to talk about a bigger US role on the territory and additional measures but faced with the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that the US leader's goal to take Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the US administration's actions in Venezuela this past few days, her fellow leaders across Europe are heeding that warning.

"These developments has just emphasized – for the umpteenth time – the EU's core weakness {