🔗 Share this article

Earlier today, a so-called Coalition of the Willing, predominantly composed of EU leaders, gathered in the French capital with delegates of President Trump, attempting to secure more advances on a sustainable peace deal for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky asserting that a plan to halt the conflict with Russia is "largely complete", no-one in that meeting desired to endanger maintaining the Washington engaged.

Yet, there was an colossal elephant in the room in that opulent and glittering gathering, and the prevailing mood was profoundly tense.

Consider the actions of the last few days: the US administration's divisive intervention in the South American nation and the President Trump's assertion shortly thereafter, that "it is essential to have Greenland from the standpoint of defense".

This massive island is the world's greatest island – it's sixfold the size of Germany. It lies in the Arctic region but is an self-governing region of Copenhagen.

At the summit, Mette Frederiksen, Copenhagen's leader, was seated facing two powerful 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 to avoid alienating the US over the Arctic question, lest that affects US backing for the Ukrainian cause.

EU heads of state would have greatly desired to separate the Arctic dispute and the negotiations on Ukraine separate. But with the political temperature rising from the White House and Copenhagen, leaders of big states at the gathering released a declaration stating: "The island is part of the alliance. Defense in the North must therefore be attained jointly, in partnership with alliance members including the United States".

"The decision is for Denmark and the Greenlandic authorities, and them alone, to decide on issues regarding the kingdom and Greenland," the declaration continued.

The statement was welcomed by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts contend it was delayed to be put together and, because of the limited group of signatories to the statement, it failed to show a Europe in agreement in objective.

"Were there a common statement from all 27 European Union countries, plus alliance partner the UK, in backing of Danish control, that would have sent a strong message to America," noted a European foreign policy specialist.

Reflect on the contradiction at play at the European gathering. Numerous European government and other officials, such as NATO and the EU, are attempting to involve the US administration in safeguarding the future autonomy of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the hostile territorial ambitions of an outside force (Russia), immediately after the US has intervened in independent Venezuela militarily, taking its president into custody, while also continuing to actively undermining the autonomy of another EU member (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Copenhagen and the US are both members of the transatlantic alliance NATO. They are, in the view of Copenhagen, exceptionally strong partners. At least, they were.

The dilemma is, if Trump were to act upon his ambition to assert control over the island, would it mark not just an severe risk to NATO 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 determination to dominate Greenland. He's floated the idea of acquiring it in the past. He's also not excluded taking it by force.

He insisted that the landmass is "vitally important right now, Greenland is frequented by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of defense and Denmark is not going to be able to handle it".

Denmark strongly denies that last statement. It recently pledged to allocate $4bn in Arctic security for boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US maintains a military base already on the island – founded at the start of the East-West standoff. It has cut the number of troops there from about 10,000 during the height of that era to around 200 and the US has long been accused of neglecting the northern theater, until now.

Denmark has signaled it is amenable to dialogue about a bigger US role on the territory and further cooperation but in light of the US President's warning of independent moves, the Danish PM said on Monday that Trump's ambition to take Greenland should be taken seriously.

Following the American intervention in Venezuela this weekend, her fellow leaders across Europe are doing just that.

"The current crisis has just underlined – once again – Europe's core vulnerability {