Valérie Hayer, president of Renew Europe, said: “Deterrence is no longer only military — it is economic. In times of geopolitical tension, we will push for a new alliance format when meeting the leaders ahead of the EU summit: this new format sends a clear signal, united in shared leverage, shared interests, and shared consequences, coercion against one will trigger a response from all.”

Hayer described the plan as “the foundation of a new democratic geopolitical power.”

Renew Europe is home to French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the leaders of Estonia, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

The idea is the liberal group’s response to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for what he called “middle powers” to come together to “build something bigger, better, stronger, more just” during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“This is the task of the middle powers, the countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and most to gain from genuine cooperation,” Carney said.

Thursday’s summit was meant to discuss European ways to boost the bloc’s economy but that has been sidelined by the war in Iran driving up energy costs, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán continuing to veto a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine.