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Just this morning, a self-styled Alliance of the Determined, largely consisting of European officials, met in Paris with representatives of President Trump, hoping to achieve further headway on a lasting peace agreement for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a roadmap to halt the war with Russia is "nearly finalized", nobody in that gathering wished to risk maintaining the Americans onboard.

Yet, there was an immense glaring omission in that opulent and glittering summit, and the underlying mood was exceptionally strained.

Consider the events of the last few days: the White House's contentious involvement in the South American nation and the President Trump's insistence shortly thereafter, that "we need Greenland from the perspective of defense".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's greatest island – it's six times the area of Germany. It is situated in the Arctic region but is an semi-independent territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was sitting opposite two influential individuals speaking on behalf of Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from European colleagues not to provoking the US over the Arctic question, for fear that that affects US support for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have much rather to compartmentalize Greenland and the debate on Ukraine distinct. But with the diplomatic heat escalating from Washington and Copenhagen, representatives of big EU countries at the talks released a statement stating: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the Arctic must therefore be secured together, in conjunction with NATO allies such as the America".

"It is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to rule on matters related to Denmark and Greenland," the declaration added.

The announcement was welcomed by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics say it was tardy to be drafted and, owing to the limited set of endorsers to the declaration, it did not manage to demonstrate a European Union in agreement in objective.

"Had there been a joint position from all 27 member states, plus NATO ally the UK, in defense of Danish authority, that would have delivered a resounding signal to the US," commented a European foreign policy analyst.

Consider the irony at hand at the Paris summit. Several EU national and other leaders, including the alliance and the EU, are seeking to engage the White House in safeguarding the future autonomy of a continental state (the Eastern European nation) against the expansionist geopolitical designs of an outside force (Russia), immediately after the US has swooped into independent Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also still publicly undermining the autonomy of another European nation (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the transatlantic alliance NATO. They are, according to Danish officials, extremely close allies. Previously, they were considered so.

The dilemma is, should Trump fulfill his ambition to bring Greenland under US control, would it constitute not just an fundamental challenge to the alliance but also a major challenge for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident Trump has expressed his determination to control Greenland. He's suggested purchasing it in the past. He's also left open the possibility of taking it by force.

On Sunday that the territory is "vitally important right now, Greenland is frequented by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the standpoint of defense and Denmark is unable to handle it".

Denmark strongly denies that claim. It not long ago vowed to allocate $4bn in the island's defense including boats, drones and aircraft.

As per a mutual pact, the US operates a military base currently on Greenland – founded at the start of the East-West standoff. It has reduced the number of troops there from approximately 10,000 during the height of Cold War operations to about 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of taking its eye off the northern theater, up to this point.

Copenhagen has signaled it is open to discussion about a bigger US role on the island and further cooperation but confronted by the US President's threat of independent moves, the Danish PM said on Monday that Trump's ambition to acquire Greenland should be taken seriously.

In the wake of the American intervention in Venezuela this past few days, her counterparts in Europe are taking it seriously.

"This whole situation has just underlined – for the umpteenth time – Europe's basic vulnerability {