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Just this morning, a so-called Coalition of the Willing, largely made up of European leaders, convened in the French capital with representatives of President Trump, attempting to secure more advances on a durable peace agreement for Ukraine.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a plan to end the war with Russia is "nearly finalized", nobody in that meeting wished to risk maintaining the US onboard.

Yet, there was an immense elephant in the room in that impressive and glittering gathering, and the prevailing mood was exceptionally uneasy.

Consider the actions of the past week: the US administration's controversial incursion in the South American nation and the US president's declaration shortly thereafter, that "our national security requires Greenland from the standpoint of strategic interests".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's largest island – it's 600% the size of Germany. It is located in the Arctic but is an autonomous possession of Denmark's.

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

She was under pressure from her EU allies to refrain from antagonising the US over the Greenland issue, lest that impacts US assistance for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have greatly desired to compartmentalize Greenland and the negotiations on Ukraine apart. But with the diplomatic heat escalating from Washington and Denmark, leaders of leading European nations at the talks issued a statement asserting: "The island is part of the alliance. Defense in the Arctic must therefore be attained jointly, in cooperation with alliance members like the US".

"It is for Denmark and the Greenlandic authorities, and them only, to determine on matters related to Denmark and its autonomous territory," the communiqué added.

The announcement was greeted by the island's leader, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers say it was slow to be formulated and, because of the restricted group of endorsers to the declaration, it was unable to project a Europe united in intent.

"If there had been a unified statement from all 27 member states, plus NATO ally the UK, in support of Copenhagen's sovereignty, that would have sent a resounding message to America," noted a European foreign policy expert.

Reflect on the irony at hand at the France meeting. Numerous EU government and other leaders, including NATO and the EU, are trying to secure the cooperation of the White House in protecting the future independence of a European country (the Eastern European nation) against the expansionist territorial ambitions of an external actor (Moscow), on the heels of the US has swooped into sovereign Venezuela by armed intervention, taking its president into custody, while also continuing to actively undermining the autonomy of another continental ally (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Copenhagen and the US are both signatories of the military bloc the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, in the view of Danish officials, profoundly strong partners. Previously, they were considered so.

The dilemma is, should Trump act upon his desire to acquire Greenland, would it constitute not just an fundamental challenge to NATO but also a profound crisis for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Marginalized

This is not the first time Trump has spoken of his intention to acquire Greenland. He's floated the idea of buying it in the past. He's also refused to rule out a military seizure.

He insisted that the landmass is "so strategic right now, Greenland is covered with foreign ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the vantage point of defense and Copenhagen is not going to be able to provide security".

Copenhagen refutes that last statement. It has lately committed to invest $4bn in the island's defense including boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a mutual pact, the US has a military base already on Greenland – founded at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has reduced the total of personnel there from about 10,000 during peak that era to approximately 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of neglecting Arctic Security, up to this point.

Denmark has indicated it is willing to talk about a bigger US footprint on the territory and additional measures but confronted by the US President's assertion of independent moves, Frederiksen said on Monday that the US leader's goal to acquire Greenland should be taken seriously.

After the American intervention in Venezuela this weekend, her counterparts in Europe are taking it seriously.

"This whole situation has just highlighted – yet again – Europe's core weakness {