The European Commission appears to have been snubbed in a statement from several member states defending Greenland, following renewed threats by Donald Trump to seize the autonomous Danish island.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, was not included in the statement, which was posted on Tuesday and instead signed by the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, plus the United Kingdom and Greenland itself.
Aside from reaffirming the Nato alliance, the communiqué also stated that Greenland belongs to its people.
"It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland," it said.
"We are not in the habit of commenting on statements that have just been issued," a European Commission spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday (6 January), when asked to explain the EU institutional absence from the letter.
She instead echoed past statements on upholding the territorial integrity of Greenland and the need to work with the United States.
And she refused to comment on statements from Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump, who told CNN that nobody would challenge a US military-led takeover of Greenland, after it abducted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
The EU commission had earlier called Maduro's rendition an "opportunity for democratic transition" in Venezuela.
The EU reaction, which also refused to explicitly condemn Trump, points to a diplomatic dilemma for Brussels, which still views Washington as a strategic ally.
But the statement also appears to have sidelined the EU institutions, and its wider aspirations to speak on behalf of 27 member states on global matters.
Kallas had earlier this week issued a joint-statement on Venezuela on behalf of 26 member states (minus Hungary), which demanded that the principles of international law and the UN charter be upheld. It did not explicitly contest the US operation in Venezuela.
Meanwhile, foreign affairs ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden also stated on Monday that "matters concerning Denmark and Greenland are for Denmark and Greenland to decide alone".
Greenland, the largest island in the world, strategically located between North America and Europe, is about four-fifths covered by ice and has a population of just under 57,000 people.
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.
Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.