<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced early Friday morning in Brussels that Spain “has decided not to participate in the so-called Board of Peace” proposed by US President Donald Trump to monitor the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip “out of consistency.”</strong></h4> “I want to inform you that, after consulting with many countries and after deliberating for several weeks, I wanted to convey to my colleagues at the European Council today that the Spanish government has decided not to participate in the so-called Peace Board,” Sánchez declared at the press conference following the extraordinary European Council meeting. “We appreciate the invitation, but we decline to participate in this board proposed by the US administration,” he continued. “We do so, above all and fundamentally, out of consistency with our commitment to the multilateral order, the United Nations system, and international law,” he explained. “It is clear that this board is outside the framework of the United Nations and, incidentally, has not included the Palestinian Authority,” he noted. “The future of Palestine as a whole must be decided by the Palestinians, and the future of their peaceful and secure coexistence with Israel must also be decided fundamentally by Israel and Palestine in a dialogue process that implements the two-state solution, allows the entry of humanitarian aid, and, of course, guarantees peace between the two countries,” he added. Donald Trump presented the so-called “Board of Peace” this Thursday, January 22, at the Davos Forum. Among those who have joined are Israel, Morocco, Hungary, Bulgaria, Argentina, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kosovo, and the United Arab Emirates. With the exception of Hungary and Bulgaria, no other EU country has joined the initiative or attended the presentation. <h5><strong>Albares</strong></h5> “I haven’t been able to follow what was said at that meeting. I hadn’t planned to attend at all. I was actually meeting with the Prime Minister of Palestine (Mohammad Mustafa), with whom I’ve certainly been discussing this matter in Gaza,” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told the press after participating in the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. “Anything that can help transform this ceasefire, which is systematically violated, into a lasting peace in Gaza; anything that can help bring humanitarian aid into Gaza on a massive scale, including Spanish humanitarian aid from our own cooperation agency, is welcome,” he continued. “And anything that has the political aim of establishing a two-state solution and a realistic and viable Palestinian state is welcome. Spain will be there,” he added. Hours earlier, Albares announced, during an interview with TVE, that Spain would not attend the presentation of the “Peace Board” and that he had spoken with European partners to establish a “common position” within the European Union on this matter. He also declined to clarify whether Spain would be part of this project, which European leaders oppose because they believe it undermines the authority of the United Nations, simply stating that the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, would announce it in due course. “The announcements that need to be made in this regard will be made by the Prime Minister,” he declared. “I have been speaking with our partners in the European Union these past few days to try to reach a common position on this,” he asserted. “We have a clear position, which is to try to forge a common European stance based on the principles of the UN Charter, respecting international law, and always working to achieve a just and lasting peace in Gaza,” he added. <h5><strong>The Board of Peace</strong></h5> Trump had invited around sixty world heads of state or government, including Pedro Sánchez, to the presentation of the “Board of Peace” (presented as an “international political coordination body” with the capacity to act in “other conflicts”), but only about twenty countries attended. Among those present at the event were the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita; the President of Argentina, Javier Milei; the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rosen Zhelyazkov; the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán; the President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto; and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi. The president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani; the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif; the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña; the prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani; the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud; the foreign minister of Turkey, Hakan Fidan; and the UAE's special envoy to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, among others. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the invitation on Wednesday despite his initial objections to Turkey's participation, but did not travel to Davos due to the international arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Gaza. The invited countries also included Russia, China, India, and even Ukraine, but Moscow's potential participation could dissuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from joining the initiative. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has declined to comment at this time, despite her good relationship with Trump, due to the ongoing dispute between the EU and the US over Greenland. “More time is needed,” she told RAI. During the event, Trump asserted that the “Board of Peace” has no intention of replacing the UN and that, on the contrary, it will work “in collaboration with the United Nations.” “I have always said that the United Nations has enormous potential, but it has not been realized,” he added.
