AN ANNUAL gathering of top international security figures that last year set the tone for a growing rift between the United States and Europe opened today.

The conference brings together top European officials with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.

“Transatlantic relations have been the backbone of this conference since it was founded in 1963 and transatlantic relations are currently in a significant crisis of confidence and credibility,” conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters earlier this week.

Disagreements between the US and Europeans over issues such as Greenland and support for the continuing conflict in Ukraine have marred the build-up to the conference.

Claudia Major, a senior vice-president at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, said Greenland “has been a fundamental change for Europeans. That one Nato ally threatens another Nato ally has deeply affected European trust in the transatlantic relationship.”

On Thursday Politico reported that the US does not plan to provide Ukraine with security guarantees until Kiev reaches a peace agreement with Moscow.

According to a senior US source, US President Donald Trump is seeking to use the security guarantees as leverage over Volodymyr Zelensky.

“He wants to get a lot of things firmed up and solidified before actually signing,” the source said.