Several EU leaders won't join Trump’s Board of Peace

Several European Countries,including France and Spain, have said they would not be joining US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative for Gaza. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday  he  could not accept the plan in its current form. “In the form in which the peace board is currently set up, we cannot accept its governance structures in Germany for constitutional reasons,” Merz said in a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome. Meloni expressed similar opposition to the Board of Peace in its current form, saying she has asked Trump to amend its terms to resolve constitutional issues that have prevented Italy from joining it. Under Italy’s constitution, the country can only join international organizations on equal terms with other states — a condition that Meloni says is not met by the board’s current statute, which gives Trump extensive executive powers. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Friday mocks the idea of US President Donal Trump's board of peace.“Putin being on a board of peace? He is waging war on a European country", he said.

BREAKING: Prime Minister Keir Starmer mocks the idea of Trumps board of peace “Putin being on a board of peace? He is waging war on a European country"

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— Peter Stefanovic (@peterstefanovic.bsky.social) January 24, 2026 at 12:53 AM

The Board of Peace’s charter “raises a concern under the EU’s constitutional principles” and “the autonomy of the EU legal order also militates against a concentration of powers in the hands of the chairman,” the bloc’s diplomatic service wrote.
The new board, which the US president launched on Thursday, is chaired for life by Trump and is set to start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts. Member states are limited to three-year terms unless they pay $1 billion each to fund the board’s activities and earn permanent membership.