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Just this morning, a informal Alliance of the Willing, mostly composed of European officials, gathered in Paris with delegates of the Trump administration, attempting to achieve more progress on a sustainable peace deal for the embattled nation.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring that a framework to conclude the war with Russia is "largely complete", no-one in that gathering wished to jeopardise maintaining the Americans engaged.

Yet, there was an immense glaring omission in that impressive and glittering Paris meeting, and the underlying atmosphere was extremely uneasy.

Recall the actions of the last few days: the US administration's divisive incursion in the South American nation and the US president's insistence following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the viewpoint of national security".

Greenland is the world's biggest island – it's six times the size of Germany. It is situated in the Arctic region but is an self-governing region of Denmark's.

At the Paris meeting, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was positioned across from two influential individuals representing Trump: special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from European allies not to provoking the US over Greenland, lest that impacts US assistance for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have much rather to compartmentalize Greenland and the negotiations on the war separate. But with the political temperature mounting from Washington and Copenhagen, leaders of big European nations at the gathering issued a communiqué asserting: "The island is part of NATO. Security in the North must therefore be attained collectively, in partnership with treaty partners such as the US".

"It is for Denmark and the Greenlandic authorities, and them alone, to determine on issues regarding Denmark and Greenland," the statement continued.

The announcement was welcomed by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but observers say it was tardy to be drafted and, because of the small group of endorsers to the declaration, it failed to demonstrate a European Union in agreement in purpose.

"Were there a common statement from all 27 member states, in addition to NATO ally the UK, in defense of Danish authority, that would have sent a powerful signal to Washington," stated a EU foreign policy analyst.

Consider the irony at work at the France meeting. Multiple European national and other officials, including the alliance and the EU, are trying to involve the Trump administration in safeguarding the future autonomy of a continental state (the Eastern European nation) against the expansionist geopolitical designs of an external actor (Russia), just after the US has intervened in independent Venezuela by armed intervention, taking its president into custody, while also continuing to actively challenging the sovereignty of another EU member (Denmark).

To add to the complexity – Denmark and the US are both participants of the defensive pact NATO. They are, as stated by Copenhagen, profoundly close allies. At least, they were.

The issue is, should Trump fulfill his goal to bring Greenland under US control, would it constitute not just an severe risk to NATO but also a profound challenge for the EU?

Europe Faces the Danger of Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident President Trump has voiced his determination to acquire the Arctic island. He's floated the idea of purchasing it in the past. He's also refused to rule out taking it by force.

On Sunday that the landmass is "vitally important right now, Greenland is covered with foreign vessels all over the place. It is imperative to have Greenland from the perspective of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to provide security".

Copenhagen refutes that last statement. It recently vowed to invest $4bn in Arctic security for boats, drones and aircraft.

Under a bilateral agreement, the US operates a military base currently on Greenland – set up at the onset of the East-West standoff. It has scaled down the total of troops there from around 10,000 during peak the confrontation to approximately 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of taking its eye off polar defense, up to this point.

Denmark has indicated it is willing to talk about a expanded US footprint on the island and more but in light of the US President's threat of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that the US leader's goal to acquire Greenland should be taken seriously.

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

"This whole situation has just emphasized – once again – Europe's fundamental shortcoming {