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This very day, a informal Group of the Committed, mostly made up of European officials, convened in the French capital with representatives of the Trump administration, aiming to achieve more progress on a lasting settlement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a framework to conclude the war with Russia is "largely complete", no-one in that room wanted to jeopardise keeping the Americans onboard.

Yet, there was an colossal glaring omission in that impressive and luxurious summit, and the fundamental atmosphere was profoundly tense.

Consider the events of the recent days: the US administration's divisive intervention in Venezuela and the President Trump's assertion following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of defense".

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

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, Copenhagen's leader, was positioned across from two influential personalities representing Trump: diplomat Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from her EU allies not to antagonising the US over Greenland, for fear that that undermines US assistance for Ukraine.

The continent's officials would have greatly desired to separate the Arctic dispute and the debate on the war separate. But with the tensions mounting from Washington and Denmark, representatives of major European nations at the talks put out a declaration saying: "Greenland is part of NATO. Defense in the Arctic must therefore be secured collectively, in cooperation with NATO allies like the America".

"It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them alone, to decide on issues regarding the kingdom and Greenland," the statement continued.

The statement was welcomed by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers argue it was slow to be put together and, because of the small group of signatories to the declaration, it was unable to demonstrate a Europe united in objective.

"If there had been a common statement from all 27 member states, plus NATO ally the UK, in support of Danish sovereignty, that would have sent a strong warning to America," commented a European defense specialist.

Consider the irony at hand at the Paris summit. Multiple EU national and other leaders, from the alliance and the EU, are attempting to secure the cooperation of the White House in safeguarding the future independence of a continental state (Ukraine) against the hostile territorial ambitions of an external actor (Moscow), just after the US has entered sovereign Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also persistently publicly undermining the autonomy of another continental ally (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the transatlantic alliance NATO. They are, in the view of Danish officials, extremely strong partners. Or were.

The question is, if Trump were to make good on his ambition to assert control over the island, would it mark not just an fundamental challenge to NATO but also a profound challenge for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not the first time President Trump has voiced his intention to control the Arctic island. He's proposed buying it in the past. He's also not excluded a military seizure.

He insisted that the island is "so strategic right now, Greenland is frequented by foreign vessels all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the vantage point of national security and Copenhagen is unable to provide security".

Copenhagen refutes that claim. It not long ago committed to allocate $4bn in Greenland defence encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US maintains a strategic outpost already on Greenland – founded at the start of the East-West standoff. It has scaled down the figure of personnel there from around 10,000 during peak Cold War operations to approximately 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of taking its eye off polar defense, until now.

Denmark has signaled it is open to discussion about a bigger US footprint on the island and further cooperation but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, the Danish PM said on Monday that the US leader's goal to acquire Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the Washington's moves in Venezuela this past few days, her counterparts across Europe are heeding that warning.

"The current crisis has just highlighted – once again – Europe's basic vulnerability {