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Just this morning, a so-called Coalition of the Determined, predominantly made up of EU leaders, gathered in Paris with delegates of the Trump administration, attempting to achieve further progress on a sustainable peace deal for Ukraine.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky asserting that a framework to halt the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", not a single person in that gathering wanted to endanger keeping the Americans engaged.

Yet, there was an immense elephant in the room in that grand and luxurious Paris meeting, and the fundamental atmosphere was extremely tense.

Recall the developments of the past week: the US administration's divisive involvement in Venezuela and the American leader's assertion following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the standpoint of national security".

Greenland is the world's biggest island – it's sixfold the area of Germany. It is situated in the far north but is an autonomous possession of Denmark's.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, Copenhagen's leader, was sitting facing two key personalities acting for Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was subject to urging from her EU allies not to alienating the US over Greenland, in case that impacts US assistance for the Ukrainian cause.

Europe's leaders would have greatly desired to keep Greenland and the discussions on the war separate. But with the political temperature mounting from Washington and Denmark, representatives of leading EU countries at the Paris meeting released a declaration stating: "This territory is part of the alliance. Security in the North must therefore be attained together, in partnership with treaty partners including the US".

"Sovereignty is for Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities, and no one else, to rule on issues related to Denmark and its autonomous territory," the statement continued.

The statement was received positively by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts say it was delayed to be formulated and, owing to the small group of supporters to the declaration, it did not manage to demonstrate a Europe in agreement in objective.

"If there had been a common position from all 27 EU partners, plus alliance partner the UK, in support of Copenhagen's sovereignty, that would have delivered a strong warning to Washington," stated a EU foreign policy specialist.

Reflect on the irony at play at the Paris summit. Numerous European government and other leaders, such as the alliance and the EU, are attempting to secure the cooperation of the White House in guaranteeing the future independence of a European country (the Eastern European nation) against the hostile geopolitical designs of an external actor (Moscow), just after the US has swooped into independent Venezuela with force, taking its president into custody, while also still openly threatening the autonomy of a different EU member (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To compound the situation – Denmark and the US are both members of the transatlantic alliance NATO. They are, in the view of Danish officials, extremely close allies. Or were.

The issue is, if Trump were to fulfill his ambition to bring Greenland under US control, would it represent not just an severe risk to NATO but also a significant crisis for the European Union?

Europe Risks Being Trampled Underfoot

This is far from the first instance President Trump has spoken of his resolve to control Greenland. He's proposed buying it in the past. He's also refused to rule out taking it by force.

On Sunday that the territory is "vitally important right now, Greenland is patrolled by Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests and Denmark is incapable to do it".

Copenhagen contests that assertion. It not long ago vowed to spend $4bn in the island's defense encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a bilateral agreement, the US maintains a military base already on the island – founded at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has reduced the total of staff there from around 10,000 during peak that era to about 200 and the US has long been accused of overlooking Arctic Security, recently.

Copenhagen has suggested it is willing to talk about a bigger US presence on the territory and further cooperation but confronted by the US President's assertion of going it alone, Frederiksen said on Monday that Washington's desire to acquire Greenland should be taken seriously.

In the wake of the American intervention in Venezuela this past few days, her fellow leaders in Europe are heeding that warning.

"This whole situation has just emphasized – once again – Europe's basic weakness {