Three heads of state and government sealed the foundation. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and the then Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte came together in October 2022 when the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics (BIG) think tank was founded. The three founders Luuk van Middelaar, Hans Kribbe and Sébastien Lumet now have the support of Germany, France and the Netherlands, and also of Belgium, Denmark and the Czech Republic.