🔗 Share this article

This very day, a informal Alliance of the Determined, predominantly composed of EU leaders, met in the French capital with envoys of President Trump, aiming to secure more progress on a lasting peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky asserting that a plan to conclude the conflict with Russia is "nearly finalized", nobody in that gathering desired to jeopardise retaining the Americans onboard.

Yet, there was an colossal unspoken issue in that impressive and sparkling gathering, and the underlying atmosphere was exceptionally uneasy.

Consider the events of the past week: the US administration's controversial involvement in the South American nation and the President Trump's insistence following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the standpoint of defense".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's largest island – it's 600% the dimensions of Germany. It lies in the far north but is an self-governing region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, Copenhagen's leader, was positioned facing two influential personalities acting for Trump: diplomat Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was under pressure from European counterparts not to antagonising the US over the Arctic question, for fear that that affects US assistance for Ukraine.

The continent's officials would have far preferred to keep Greenland and the negotiations on Ukraine apart. But with the diplomatic heat mounting from Washington and Denmark, representatives of big EU countries at the Paris meeting released a statement stating: "The island is part of the alliance. Stability in the North must therefore be attained collectively, in cooperation with treaty partners including the America".

"The decision is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them alone, to determine on affairs related to the kingdom and its autonomous territory," the communiqué continued.

The announcement was greeted by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers argue it was slow to be put together and, because of the small number of endorsers to the statement, it was unable to demonstrate a European Union united in intent.

"If there had been a unified position from all 27 member states, plus NATO ally the UK, in defense of Danish sovereignty, that would have delivered a resounding warning to the US," noted a European defense expert.

Consider the paradox at hand at the European gathering. Numerous European government and other officials, including NATO and the EU, are seeking to secure the cooperation of the US administration in guaranteeing the future sovereignty of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the hostile land claims of an external actor (Russia), on the heels of the US has swooped into sovereign Venezuela with force, arresting its head of state, while also persistently openly threatening the autonomy of another EU member (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Denmark and the US are both signatories of the defensive pact NATO. They are, according to Copenhagen, exceptionally close allies. Or were.

The question is, if Trump were to make good on his desire to acquire Greenland, would it constitute not just an severe risk to the alliance but also a major problem for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Trampled Underfoot

This is not the first time Trump has voiced his determination to control the Arctic island. He's proposed purchasing it in the past. He's also refused to rule out forcible annexation.

He insisted that the landmass is "so strategic right now, it is covered with Russian and Chinese naval assets all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Copenhagen is unable to handle it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that last statement. It not long ago committed to invest $4bn in the island's defense encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a bilateral agreement, the US maintains a strategic outpost currently on Greenland – founded at the beginning of the East-West standoff. It has cut the total of troops there from around 10,000 during peak Cold War operations to approximately 200 and the US has long been accused of overlooking Arctic Security, until now.

Copenhagen has signaled it is willing to talk about a larger US role on the territory and more but in light of the US President's warning of independent moves, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to control Greenland should be taken seriously.

Following the US administration's actions in Venezuela this weekend, her counterparts throughout Europe are doing just that.

"The current crisis has just highlighted – yet again – Europe's fundamental shortcoming {