I think in recent times we realized that culture is still very important and just doing realpolitik alone does not work. Turkey and North Africa are way too foreign and bring more problem than benefits.

The EU covers just over 40% of the area of Europe.

> I thought Turkey

Oh yeah, that's gonna be hella popular with the voters.

> I thought Turkey or North Africa would be the next steps. Maybe Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Not white enough for the EU. There is a lot of opposition to even Turkey, which is already in customs union, joining and talks are dead specifically because EU countries do not want immigration from Turkey.

EU is looking for strong democracies, while none of your suggestions are