In what appears to be an apparent attempt by the European Union to have an effective geopolitical role in its immediate region, the bloc said Wednesday that it is working on creating a "European Geopolitical Community," which reports said would be a "waiting room with privileges" for neighboring countries wanting to join the EU.
This comes on the heels of the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saying in March that Turkey's sphere of influence is increasing and that it is a geopolitical player. He also remarked on Turkey's strategic importance as being far more crucial now than in the period before the Russia-Ukraine war.
European Council chief Charles Michel pledged to put the EU's new geopolitical project on track around the middle of the year, fleshing out an idea put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron to members of the European Parliament (EP) last week.
"I will propose that a conference be held around or after the summer" that would bring together EU leaders and partner countries "to discuss the concrete options," Michel told the bloc's advisory European Economic and Social Committee.
"The aim is to forge convergence and deepen operational cooperation to address common challenges, peace, stability and security on our continent," he said.
Macron, addressing the European Parliament on May 9, described a European "community" that would have at its core the EU but also include countries in its orbit, such as Ukraine and Britain.
The French leader, who is championing EU reforms to make the bloc's decision-making faster, presented it as a structure that would get the EU and its neighbors coordinating closely on common issues, and possibly extend some advantages of the bloc to them.
It comes as Ukraine and Western Balkan countries hoping to swiftly join the EU find their aspirations butting up against procedural and political obstacles.
Sebastien Maillard, director of the think tank the Jacques Delors Institute, said the nugget of the community idea was first raised in 1989 by then-French President Francois Mitterrand.
It was seen as "a European political space beyond the European Union that could be a first step toward joining or, according to the wishes of the country, an alternative to that," Maillard said.
Michel said he foresaw the structure holding summits at least twice a year, and with foreign ministers from neighboring countries sitting alongside EU counterparts for regular meetings.