EU will only send Mediterranean commissioner to Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ launch

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President Donald Trump participates in the Board of Peace charter announcement and signing ceremony during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

EU and the World

EU will only send Mediterranean commissioner to Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ launch

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By Benjamin Fox,
Nairobi
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Brussels will send the EU commissioner for the Mediterranean to the inaugural meeting of US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace — but has no plans to join the project, officials confirmed on Monday (16 February). 

Croatia’s Dubravka Suica will represent the EU at the meeting, to be held on Thursday (19 February) at the renamed Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace. 

However,  Suica’s remit at the meeting will be limited to its focus on the war in Gaza, in her role as the EU’s commissioner for the Mediterranean, which covers Israel. 

Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinto confirmed that president Ursula von der Leyen had been invited but would not attend. “We are not becoming a member,” she added. 

“It is in that capacity that we are attending…because we do have the right to speak out in favour of peace in Gaza,” Pinto told reporters. 

On Sunday, president Trump said that Board of Peace members would unveil a series of commitments worth $5bn [€4.22bn] toward rebuilding Gaza at the Thursday meeting, as well as well as putting thousands of military and police personnel on the ground in Gaza.

Bulgaria and Hungary were present at a signing ceremony for the creation of the Peace Board and are set to be the formal members of the new organisation, which currently has more than 20 members.  

Though the Trump administration has denied claims that it intends the Peace Board to be a rival to the United Nations’ Security Council, the US president claimed on Sunday that it will “prove to be the most consequential international body in history.” 

A European Commission spokesperson said later on Monday that Šuica’s participation in the meeting was part of demonstrating the EU’s “long-standing commitment to supporting the ceasefire” and international efforts to “support the reconstruction and post-war recovery” of Gaza. 

The Board of Peace has put the EU and others in a deeply awkward diplomatic position as it negotiates a series of tensions on trade and foreign policy with Washington, particularly Trump’s aggressive pursuit of Greenland, including threats to use military force to acquire the Arctic island.

Paris and Rome say ‘no’

France and Italy are among a group of EU countries to have turned down invitations to join the Board of Peace. 

However, officials do not want to be shut out of the organisation if it becomes an important player. 

Follow the Money said on Monday that former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who has been made a member of the nine-person executive board, has lobbied the EU commission to become a member.  

The member countries include a handful of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the UAE who have had been part of mediation efforts, along with the US, to broker peace in eastern DR Congo and Sudan, along with Turkey and Egypt who have also been involved in the peace talks in Sudan and Gaza. 

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President Donald Trump participates in the Board of Peace charter announcement and signing ceremony during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.

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