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Just this morning, a informal Alliance of the Willing, largely made up of European leaders, convened in Paris with delegates of President Trump, aiming to make further advances on a durable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a framework to end the hostilities with Russia is "90% of the way there", no-one in that gathering wanted to endanger maintaining the Americans involved.

Yet, there was an immense glaring omission in that opulent and glittering Paris meeting, and the underlying mood was profoundly tense.

Recall the events of the last few days: the US administration's contentious intervention in Venezuela and the American leader's assertion shortly thereafter, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's biggest island – it's six times the area of Germany. It is located in the Arctic region but is an autonomous territory of Denmark's.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was positioned facing two influential individuals speaking on behalf of Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was under pressure from her EU allies not to alienating the US over the Greenland issue, lest that undermines US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

The continent's officials would have much rather to keep Greenland and the discussions on the war separate. But with the tensions mounting from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of leading EU countries at the talks issued a statement asserting: "This territory is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be attained together, in conjunction with alliance members like the US".

"Sovereignty is for Denmark and Greenland, and no one else, to determine on affairs concerning Denmark and its autonomous territory," the statement further stated.

The communique was welcomed by Nuuk's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers argue it was slow to be drafted and, because of the small set of supporters to the statement, it failed to show a Europe in agreement in intent.

"Were there a common statement from all 27 EU partners, along with alliance partner the UK, in backing of Copenhagen's control, that would have sent a powerful message to Washington," noted a European foreign policy analyst.

Ponder the paradox at play at the France meeting. Numerous European national and other leaders, from NATO and the EU, are seeking to secure the cooperation of the Trump administration in safeguarding the future sovereignty of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the aggressive geopolitical designs of an external actor (Moscow), on the heels of the US has intervened in sovereign Venezuela with force, arresting its head of state, while also still openly threatening the sovereignty of a different European nation (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the defensive pact the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, according to Danish officials, profoundly strong partners. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, if Trump were to act upon his goal to assert control over the island, would it represent not just an existential threat to the alliance but also a profound problem for the European Union?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Marginalized

This is far from the first instance President Trump has voiced his determination to dominate the Arctic island. He's suggested purchasing it in the past. He's also not excluded a military seizure.

Recently that the territory is "vitally important right now, it is frequented by foreign vessels all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the perspective of national security and Copenhagen is not going to be able to handle it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that claim. It recently vowed to invest $4bn in the island's defense for boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a treaty, the US has a strategic outpost already on Greenland – founded at the onset of the Cold War. It has scaled down the total of staff there from about 10,000 during the height of the confrontation to around 200 and the US has long been accused of overlooking polar defense, up to this point.

Copenhagen has signaled it is willing to talk about a expanded US footprint on the territory and additional measures but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, the Danish PM said on Monday that Trump's ambition to take Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

Following the American intervention in Venezuela this weekend, her colleges in Europe are taking it seriously.

"This whole situation has just underlined – once again – Europe's fundamental shortcoming {