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Just this morning, a self-styled Coalition of the Determined, mostly composed of European officials, met in the French capital with delegates of President Trump, hoping to make further advances on a sustainable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky asserting that a plan to conclude the conflict with Russia is "nearly finalized", no-one in that gathering desired to risk maintaining the Americans involved.

Yet, there was an colossal elephant in the room in that grand and glittering summit, and the prevailing mood was extremely tense.

Consider the actions of the recent days: the US administration's divisive involvement in the South American nation and the American leader's insistence soon after, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's biggest island – it's 600% the area of Germany. It is located in the Arctic but is an semi-independent region of Copenhagen.

At the summit, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was positioned opposite two influential figures acting for Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was under pressure from European counterparts to avoid alienating the US over the Arctic question, lest that undermines US assistance for the Ukrainian cause.

EU heads of state would have far preferred to keep the Arctic dispute and the discussions on Ukraine distinct. But with the diplomatic heat escalating from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of big states at the talks issued a statement saying: "The island is part of NATO. Defense in the Arctic must therefore be secured jointly, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States".

"It is for Denmark and the Greenlandic authorities, and them alone, to decide on matters regarding Denmark and Greenland," the declaration further stated.

The announcement was received positively by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts contend it was tardy to be put together and, due to the restricted number of supporters to the declaration, it was unable to show a European Union in agreement in objective.

"If there had been a common declaration from all 27 EU partners, in addition to alliance partner the UK, in backing of Danish authority, that would have delivered a powerful signal to America," noted a EU foreign policy expert.

Consider the irony at play at the Paris summit. Multiple EU national and other officials, from the alliance and the EU, are trying to secure the cooperation of the US administration in protecting the future sovereignty of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the aggressive geopolitical designs of an foreign power (Russia), just after the US has swooped into independent Venezuela with force, detaining its leader, while also continuing to actively threatening the territorial integrity of a different European nation (the Kingdom of Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the transatlantic alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, in the view of Danish officials, extremely strong partners. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, should Trump act upon his desire to acquire Greenland, would it mark not just an existential threat to the alliance but also a major problem for the European Union?

Europe Risks Being Trampled Underfoot

This is not the first time President Trump has voiced his resolve to acquire Greenland. He's proposed acquiring it in the past. He's also not excluded a military seizure.

He insisted that the island is "so strategic right now, it is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the vantage point of defense and Copenhagen is incapable to handle it".

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

As per a mutual pact, the US has a defense installation already on the island – founded at the start of the East-West standoff. It has cut the figure of staff there from about 10,000 during the height of that era to approximately 200 and the US has often been faulted of overlooking the northern theater, recently.

Copenhagen has suggested it is open to discussion about a bigger US footprint on the territory and more but in light of the US President's threat of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Washington's desire to control Greenland should be taken seriously.

In the wake of the Washington's moves in Venezuela this past few days, her colleges across Europe are doing just that.

"This whole situation has just highlighted – yet again – Europe's fundamental shortcoming {