The first summit of the new forum called the European Political Community will take place in Prague on 6 October, with officials from 27 EU countries plus 17 non-member countries.

“A source from the EU has confirmed that the invitation for the Prague meeting has been forwarded to Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom,” Croatian state agency Hina said on Friday.

The European Political Community is a new political group proposed by the French President, Emmanuel Macron. The stated goal of the project is to provide a “policy coordination platform” for European countries across the continent and promote political dialogue in order to “address issues of common interest, so as to strengthen the security, stability and prosperity of the European continent.”

Macron’s proposal was met with varying reactions from other countries.

“Although some have welcomed this idea, there are also some skeptics who see it as a ‘consolation reward’ for EU membership aspirants as there are no signs when the next EU enlargement round might happen,” Hina said, without clarifying.