The Painful Issues for NATO and the EU as Trump Makes Threats About the Arctic Island

This very day, a informal Coalition of the Determined, mostly consisting of EU officials, gathered in the French capital with delegates of the Trump administration, aiming to achieve more progress on a sustainable peace deal for the embattled nation.

With President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a framework to halt the hostilities with Russia is "largely complete", nobody in that gathering desired to risk keeping the US engaged.

Yet, there was an enormous elephant in the room in that grand and sparkling summit, and the fundamental tension was profoundly uneasy.

Bear in mind the actions of the recent days: the Trump administration's contentious intervention in Venezuela and the US president's assertion following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

Greenland is the world's biggest island – it's six times the area of Germany. It is located in the Arctic but is an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was seated across from two key individuals representing Trump: diplomat Steve Witkoff and Trump's adviser Jared Kushner.

She was under pressure from her EU allies to avoid alienating the US over the Greenland issue, for fear that that undermines US backing for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have far preferred to compartmentalize the Arctic dispute and the discussions on Ukraine separate. But with the political temperature mounting from the White House and Copenhagen, leaders of leading states at the talks released a declaration saying: "Greenland is part of NATO. Stability in the Arctic must therefore be attained together, in cooperation with NATO allies like the United States".

"Sovereignty is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to decide on issues related to Denmark and its autonomous territory," the statement continued.

The communique was welcomed by Greenland's prime minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but critics contend it was slow to be put together and, owing to the restricted number of endorsers to the declaration, it was unable to demonstrate a European Union united in purpose.

"Were there a unified declaration from all 27 EU partners, in addition to alliance partner the UK, in support of Danish control, that would have conveyed a strong signal to the US," commented a European foreign policy specialist.

Consider the contradiction at play at the Paris summit. Several EU national and other leaders, from NATO and the European Union, are trying to secure the cooperation of the Trump administration in guaranteeing the future autonomy of a European country (Ukraine) against the hostile geopolitical designs of an foreign power (Moscow), just after the US has swooped into independent Venezuela with force, detaining its leader, while also still publicly undermining the sovereignty of a different European nation (Denmark).

To compound the situation – Denmark and the US are both members of the defensive pact NATO. They are, according to Danish officials, extremely strong partners. Or were.

The question is, if Trump were to fulfill his goal to bring Greenland under US control, would it constitute not just an fundamental challenge to NATO but also a major crisis for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

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

Recently that the territory is "crucially located right now, it is patrolled by Russian and Chinese vessels all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Copenhagen is not going to be able to handle it".

Copenhagen strongly denies that last statement. It not long ago vowed to allocate $4bn in Arctic security encompassing boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a mutual pact, the US maintains a strategic outpost already on the island – set up at the start of the Cold War. It has scaled down the number of troops there from around 10,000 during peak the confrontation to around 200 and the US has often been faulted of neglecting the northern theater, recently.

Denmark has suggested it is willing to talk about a expanded US presence on the territory and more but confronted by the US President's warning of independent moves, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to take Greenland should be considered a real possibility.

In the wake of the US administration's actions in Venezuela this weekend, her colleges across Europe are taking it seriously.

"These developments has just emphasized – once again – the EU's basic vulnerability {