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Earlier today, a so-called Group of the Willing, largely composed of EU officials, met in Paris with representatives of President Trump, attempting to secure additional headway on a sustainable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a roadmap to end the hostilities with Russia is "largely complete", nobody in that room wanted to jeopardise retaining the Washington involved.

Yet, there was an enormous glaring omission in that grand and sparkling summit, and the fundamental tension was extremely tense.

Recall the developments of the past week: the White House's controversial intervention in the South American nation and the US president's declaration shortly thereafter, that "we need Greenland from the perspective of national security".

Greenland is the world's greatest island – it's sixfold the area of Germany. It is situated in the far north but is an semi-independent region of Copenhagen.

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

She was facing pressure from European counterparts to refrain from antagonising the US over the Greenland issue, lest that impacts US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

EU heads of state would have far preferred to compartmentalize Greenland and the discussions on the war separate. But with the tensions escalating from Washington and Copenhagen, representatives of big states at the Paris meeting put out a communiqué stating: "This territory is part of the alliance. Stability in the Arctic must therefore be attained together, in partnership with alliance members like the US".

"The decision is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them alone, to decide on issues regarding Denmark and its autonomous territory," the communiqué continued.

The statement was welcomed by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics say it was tardy to be formulated and, owing to the restricted set of endorsers to the statement, it was unable to show a European Union in agreement in intent.

"Had there been a joint position from all 27 European Union countries, along with NATO ally the UK, in backing of Copenhagen's sovereignty, that would have delivered a strong warning to Washington," noted a EU defense expert.

Consider the irony at hand at the France meeting. Multiple EU national and other leaders, including NATO and the European Union, are trying to involve the White House in guaranteeing the future independence of a European country (the Eastern European nation) against the aggressive geopolitical designs of an outside force (Russia), immediately after the US has intervened in independent Venezuela by armed intervention, arresting its head of state, while also continuing to actively undermining the territorial integrity of another EU member (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the defensive pact NATO. They are, according to Copenhagen, profoundly key friends. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, should Trump fulfill his desire to assert control over the island, would it represent not just an severe risk to NATO but also a significant challenge for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Trampled Underfoot

This is not the first time Trump has expressed his intention to acquire the Arctic island. He's proposed buying it in the past. He's also not excluded forcible annexation.

On Sunday that the territory is "crucially located right now, Greenland is frequented by foreign ships all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the vantage point of national security and Copenhagen is unable to do it".

Denmark contests that last statement. It not long ago vowed to allocate $4bn in Greenland defence encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a bilateral agreement, the US operates a military base already on Greenland – set up at the start of the East-West standoff. It has scaled down the total of staff there from approximately 10,000 during the height of that era to approximately 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of taking its eye off Arctic Security, recently.

Denmark has indicated it is open to discussion about a expanded US presence on the island and more but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to control Greenland should be treated with gravity.

Following the US administration's actions in Venezuela this past few days, her counterparts in Europe are taking it seriously.

"This whole situation has just emphasized – yet again – Europe's core shortcoming {