The 16 plus 1 Group was formed after Premier Wen Jiabao’s historic visit to Poland in 2012. At the time, many countries in the region felt left out of Brussels’ negotiations with China. The grouping was framed by Beijing as an opportunity to give them a greater voice.

Skeptics immediately suspected that China had other intentions, but the economic benefits of trade with China have been hard to resist. That has been so even for Germany and France, which have not formally signed on to Belt and Road, let alone Italy or Greece, which are desperate for investment.

China has already moved ahead with plans to make the Greek port of Piraeus the “dragon head” of its infrastructure push, and it has stepped up investment in Greece, which is still smarting from the austerity measures imposed by its European partners.

“I think that the fact that today we became 17 plus one is the good news of the day,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras said on Friday. “I look forward to working with all of you in the framework of this initiative in full respect of the rules and procedures of the European Union.”

China’s presence is no longer a novelty in this part of Europe, where its track record is decidedly more complicated than it was when the economic bloc was formed.

For instance, after years of investments failing to materialize, Poland, the largest nation in the group and once one of its biggest champions, has cooled on China. The arrest in Poland of a Chinese regional director of the tech giant Huawei underscored the changing nature of the relationship.