I don't know how important seating arrangements are, but viewing the EU from the US suggests that it is a long way from being taken seriously on this side of the pond.

I would bet that if you asked 100 Americans about the EU you would get a blank stare from 99 of them. We "know about" Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, and maybe a couple of other European countries, but I know zero people who could identify Slovenia, for example, on a map--even though it is the home country of the ex-FLOTUS. And most of what we "know" comes from watching glorious WW2 movies on TV.

As for the EU, a few people might say something about the Common Market, but that is about it.

If the EU wants to be taken seriously, it needs to take that huge step from being a confederacy to a federation, with all the accoutrements, as mentioned above.