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This very day, a informal Alliance of the Committed, predominantly made up of EU leaders, gathered in Paris with envoys of the Trump administration, attempting to achieve more progress on a sustainable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a plan to end the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", nobody in that meeting desired to risk retaining the Americans engaged.

Yet, there was an colossal glaring omission in that opulent and glittering Paris meeting, and the prevailing mood was profoundly strained.

Bear in mind the events of the last few days: the Trump administration's divisive involvement in Venezuela and the President Trump's declaration shortly thereafter, that "our national security requires Greenland from the viewpoint of national security".

Greenland is the world's greatest island – it's sixfold the area of Germany. It is located in the far north but is an self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the summit, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was sitting across from two influential individuals acting for Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from her EU allies to refrain from alienating the US over the Arctic question, for fear that that undermines US support for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have far preferred to keep Greenland and the discussions on the war separate. But with the political temperature rising from the White House and Copenhagen, leaders of leading states at the Paris meeting put out a declaration saying: "The island is part of the alliance. Stability in the Arctic must therefore be secured jointly, in cooperation with NATO allies like the United States".

"It is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them alone, to rule on matters related to the kingdom and Greenland," the declaration continued.

The statement was welcomed by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers say it was slow to be put together and, because of the small set of signatories to the statement, it failed to project a Europe in agreement in intent.

"If there had been a unified statement from all 27 European Union countries, along with alliance partner the UK, in backing of Danish authority, that would have delivered a powerful warning to Washington," stated a European defense expert.

Ponder the irony at work at the France meeting. Numerous European government and other leaders, such as NATO and the EU, are attempting to secure the cooperation of the Trump administration in protecting the future sovereignty of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the hostile geopolitical designs of an outside force (Moscow), on the heels of the US has swooped into independent Venezuela militarily, arresting its head of state, while also continuing to publicly threatening the territorial integrity of a different European nation (Denmark).

To add to the complexity – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the transatlantic alliance NATO. They are, in the view of Copenhagen, exceptionally close allies. At least, they were.

The question is, were Trump to fulfill his desire to acquire Greenland, would it mark not just an fundamental challenge to the alliance but also a major crisis for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Marginalized

This is not an isolated incident Trump has voiced his determination to dominate Greenland. He's floated the idea of purchasing it in the past. He's also left open the possibility of forcible annexation.

He insisted that the landmass is "vitally important right now, it is covered with foreign vessels all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the vantage point of defense and Denmark is unable to do it".

Denmark refutes that last statement. It recently committed to allocate $4bn in the island's defense including boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a mutual pact, the US maintains a military base already on the island – established at the onset of the Cold War. It has scaled down the number of troops there from approximately 10,000 during peak the confrontation to around 200 and the US has long been accused of neglecting Arctic Security, recently.

Denmark has signaled it is open to discussion about a expanded US role on the territory and more but faced with the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to control Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

Following the Washington's moves in Venezuela this past few days, her fellow leaders throughout Europe are doing just that.

"These developments has just emphasized – for the umpteenth time – Europe's fundamental vulnerability {