The success of the Brexit referendum shined a spotlight on the forces threatening to tear the European Union apart, but the disintegration of the bloc has been long in the making. Already, some countries are striving to broaden cooperation beyond the confines of the European Union project. On Monday, a Belgian politician called for the formation of a North Sea union. The same day, Finland charged ahead with negotiations toward a military collaboration agreement with the United States.

For EU member states along the North Sea, the Brexit could be especially destabilizing. The United Kingdom has long played a prominent role in North Sea matters, and the European Union has provided a platform for discussing those matters. Without London, the European Union may be left with a vacuum for issues affecting the North Sea, which matter to only a few member states. In the United Kingdom’s stead, Geert Bourgeois, minister-president of the Flemish regional government, proposed a North Sea Union comprising the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark and Belgium. The North Sea Union, a “minilateral” union similar to the Union of the Mediterranean, offers a logical solution for a smaller group of countries united by a shared interest.

The group hearkens back to one of the European Union’s forebears, the European Coal and Steel Community, which initially included France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. At the time of the community’s formation, coal production was an important policy issue for these countries, and collaborating on it offered benefits to all partners. Likewise, as the Brexit and other problems distract the European Union’s attention, countries in the North Sea region need an alternative venue to coordinate on topics such as fishery legislation, offshore oil activity and a plethora of environmental issues. The North Sea Union would provide such a forum while also buffering its participants to some extent from the fallout of the Brexit and of any future EU withdrawals.

Beyond its application for natural resources — whether coal or fish — the minilateral union model could also help countries increase security integration. Over the past few years, Poland has assumed a more pronounced role in Eastern Europe, leading security initiatives in the region. Facing different security concerns from those of their EU peers in Western Europe, Eastern European countries espouse separate policies specific to their needs. To implement these policies, Poland and other Eastern European countries have been increasing their military cooperation, not only among themselves but also with the United States.

Across the Baltic Sea at the northern edge of the European Union, Sweden and Finland are making similar moves to beef up security. Though the two countries maintained neutrality during the Cold War, Helsinki is now following Stockholm’s example by negotiating a defense collaboration agreement with the United States. Much like the European Union’s Eastern European members, Sweden and Finland tend toward their own distinct policies, based on their shared regional interests. If the European Union loses significance, the two countries may come to depend on each other for support on many different issues.

Neither country joined the European Union until the early 1990s (thanks to their neutrality during the Cold War) and to this day, both refuse to join NATO, though they have worked closely with the alliance and its members. The events in Ukraine, however, have reignited Finland’s fears of an expansionist Russia. Although the country is unlikely to join NATO anytime soon, Helsinki nonetheless wants to have a credible deterrent against any potential threats that may emerge from Moscow in the Baltic and in Nordic areas. The United States is encouraging both countries to join the alliance, since forging strong partnerships with Eastern Europe and Nordic countries will provide Washington a degree of certainty, even if the future of the European Union is not guaranteed.

In and beyond the European Union, countries are working to form pragmatic relationships that will define the future of Europe. Despite their collaborative nature, these proposals are driving the fragmentation of the European Union. As the Continental bloc deteriorates, new blocs centered on shared geography or policy issues will emerge, each able to protect its own separate interests.