Is Europe starting to think of itself as a power?
Two signals from European leaders this week point in the same direction: Europe is starting to play offensive.
๐ซ๐ฎ Yesterday, President Alexander Stubb is openly discussing a European Union of 40 countries, projecting Europe's political, economic and strategic influence far beyond its current borders.
Meanwhile, ๐ซ๐ท Emmanuel Macron and ๐ฉ๐ช Friedrich Merz want candidate countries to start integrating into the EU long before full accession, rewarding reforms with gradual access to European decision-making and the Single Market.
What links these two ideas is a shift in mindset.
Enlargement is increasingly viewed as a geopolitical tool to extend European influence, values and prosperity - and to compete with the United States, China and Russia.
In Stubb's words: no country dreams of becoming America's 51st state. Many dream of becoming a member of the European Union.
That may be Europe's greatest geopolitical asset.