Those Difficult Issues for NATO and the EU as Trump Threatens Greenland

Just this morning, a so-called Coalition of the Determined, predominantly consisting of European heads of state, met in Paris with representatives of President Trump, hoping to achieve additional progress on a durable peace deal for the embattled nation.

With Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky insisting that a plan to conclude the conflict with Russia is "nearly finalized", nobody in that meeting wanted to jeopardise keeping the US involved.

Yet, there was an colossal elephant in the room in that impressive and sparkling gathering, and the fundamental atmosphere was exceptionally uneasy.

Bear in mind the actions of the last few days: the White House's controversial involvement in Venezuela and the US president's assertion following this, that "our national security requires Greenland from the perspective of strategic interests".

The vast Arctic territory is the world's largest island – it's six times the size of Germany. It is situated in the Arctic but is an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark.

At the conference, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, was sitting facing two key personalities speaking on behalf of Trump: emissary Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

She was facing pressure from European counterparts to avoid provoking the US over Greenland, lest that affects US support for Ukraine.

EU heads of state would have greatly desired to keep Greenland and the debate on Ukraine separate. But with the political temperature rising from the White House and Denmark, leaders of big states at the talks issued a communiqué saying: "This territory is part of NATO. Defense in the North must therefore be achieved collectively, in cooperation with NATO allies like the United States".

"It is for Copenhagen and Greenland, and them only, to determine on issues regarding the kingdom and its autonomous territory," the declaration added.

The announcement was received positively by Nuuk's head of government, Jens Frederik Nielsen, but analysts say it was delayed to be formulated and, due to the small number of endorsers to the statement, it failed to show a European Union aligned in purpose.

"If there had been a joint statement from all 27 European Union countries, along with alliance partner the UK, in backing of Danish authority, that would have delivered a resounding message to Washington," commented a European defense specialist.

Consider the paradox at work at the European gathering. Numerous EU national and other officials, from the alliance and the EU, are seeking to involve the US administration in protecting the future autonomy of a EU nation (Ukraine) against the aggressive geopolitical designs of an external actor (Moscow), just after the US has swooped into independent Venezuela militarily, arresting its head of state, while also still publicly undermining the sovereignty of a different continental ally (Denmark).

To make matters even more stark – Denmark and the US are both members of the defensive pact the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are, as stated by Danish officials, extremely key friends. At least, they were.

The question is, were Trump to make good on his goal to bring Greenland under US control, would it mark not just an existential threat to NATO but also a major problem for the EU?

Europe Risks Being Overlooked

This is not an isolated incident President Trump has expressed his resolve to acquire the Arctic island. He's proposed acquiring it in the past. He's also left open the possibility of forcible annexation.

He insisted that the territory is "vitally important right now, it is covered with foreign vessels all over the place. Our security demands Greenland from the standpoint of defense and Copenhagen is incapable to provide security".

Copenhagen contests that assertion. It recently vowed to allocate $4bn in Greenland defence including boats, drones and aircraft.

Pursuant to a bilateral agreement, the US maintains a strategic outpost already on Greenland – set up at the onset of the Cold War. It has reduced the number of staff there from approximately 10,000 during peak Cold War operations to around 200 and the US has frequently been criticized of overlooking the northern theater, recently.

Denmark has signaled it is willing to talk about a bigger US role on the territory and more but confronted by the US President's assertion of unilateral action, Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump's ambition to take Greenland should be treated with gravity.

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

"The current crisis has just underlined – yet again – Europe's fundamental weakness {