The European Union’s foreign policy arm has raised questions about US President Donald Trump’s broad powers over his new Board of Peace, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
Trump has urged world leaders to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, but many Western heads of government have been reluctant to take part.
In a confidential analysis dated January 19 and shared with the EU’s member countries, the European External Action Service expressed worries about a concentration of power in Trump’s hands.
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 document also says the new Board of Peace “departs significantly” from the mandate that was authorized by the United Nations Security Council in November and is solely focused on the Gaza conflict.
Expanding remit
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.
"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations," Trump said, adding that the UN had great potential that had not been fully utilized.
After European leaders met to discuss the transatlantic relationship on Thursday evening, European Council President Antonio Costa told reporters: "We have serious doubts about a number of elements in the charter of the Board of Peace, related to its scope, its governance, and its compatibility with the United Nations charter.”
Costa said that the EU was “ready to work together with the United States on the implementation of the comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, with a Board of Peace carrying out its mission as a transitional administration, in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803”.
Several EU countries, including France and Spain, have already said they would not be joining the board.
In its analysis, the EU’s diplomatic service said that “the provision that a Member State’s choice about the level of its participation needs the approval of the chairman constitutes an undue interference with the organizational autonomy of each member”.
Merz says Berlin cannot accept Trump's Board of Peace plan in current form
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday he would be ready to join US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative for the sake of Gaza but 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.
"However, we are of course prepared to explore other forms -- new forms -- of cooperation with the United States of America if the aim is to find new formats that bring us closer to peace in different regions of the world."
Merz said these formats would not need to be limited only to Gaza and the Middle East but could also apply, for example, to Ukraine.
Meloni calls for revision of Trump's Board of Peace so Italy can join
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she had asked US President Donald Trump to amend the terms of his Board of Peace in order to resolve constitutional issues that have prevented Italy from joining it.
The Board of Peace is a new US-led international body created to oversee post-war governance in Gaza and potentially broader conflict-resolution efforts.
Under Italy's constitution, the country can only join international organisations 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.