🔗 Share this article

This very day, a self-styled Group of the Willing, predominantly composed of EU leaders, met in Paris with envoys of US President Donald Trump, attempting to secure additional progress on a durable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a framework to end the conflict with Russia is "largely complete", nobody in that room wanted to risk retaining the Washington onboard.

Yet, there was an colossal glaring omission in that opulent and sparkling gathering, and the underlying mood was exceptionally strained.

Bear in mind the events of the recent days: the White House's contentious intervention in Venezuela and the US president's insistence shortly thereafter, that "we need Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

This massive island is the world's greatest island – it's six times the dimensions of Germany. It is located in the Arctic region but is an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's Prime Minister, was positioned across from two key personalities acting for Trump: diplomat Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from European colleagues not to provoking the US over the Greenland issue, for fear that that undermines US support for the Ukrainian cause.

The continent's officials would have much rather to compartmentalize Greenland and the debate on Ukraine separate. But with the political temperature escalating from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of big EU countries at the Paris meeting released a statement stating: "The island is part of NATO. Stability in the North must therefore be attained jointly, in conjunction with treaty partners such as the US".

"Sovereignty is for Copenhagen and the Greenlandic authorities, and them alone, to decide on affairs concerning the kingdom and Greenland," the communiqué continued.

The statement was greeted by Nuuk's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers say it was delayed to be put together and, owing to the restricted set of signatories to the declaration, it failed to demonstrate a European Union aligned in intent.

"Had there been a unified declaration from all 27 European Union countries, in addition to alliance partner the UK, in support of Copenhagen's control, that would have delivered a resounding warning to the US," noted a European foreign policy expert.

Reflect on the irony at play at the European gathering. Multiple European government and other leaders, such as NATO and the EU, are trying to engage the Trump administration in safeguarding the future autonomy of a continental state (the Eastern European nation) against the hostile land claims of an outside force (Moscow), immediately after the US has entered independent Venezuela with force, arresting its head of state, while also still publicly challenging the sovereignty of another EU member (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both participants of the military bloc NATO. They are, according to Danish officials, profoundly close allies. At least, they were.

The issue is, should Trump act upon his desire to assert control over the island, would it represent not just an fundamental challenge to the alliance but also a major challenge for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Marginalized

This is not the first time Trump has spoken of his intention to dominate Greenland. He's floated the idea of buying it in the past. He's also not excluded taking it by force.

Recently that the landmass is "so strategic right now, it is patrolled by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the vantage point of national security and Denmark is unable to do it".

Denmark contests that claim. It not long ago committed to invest $4bn in the island's defense encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US operates a strategic outpost presently on the island – founded at the start of the Cold War. It has reduced the total of staff there from about 10,000 during peak that era to around 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of neglecting the northern theater, up to this point.

Copenhagen has indicated it is amenable to dialogue about a bigger US presence on the island and further cooperation but in light of the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that the US leader's goal to control Greenland should be taken seriously.

Following the Washington's moves in Venezuela this past few days, her counterparts in Europe are taking it seriously.

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