European Union to send observer to Trump’s Board of Peace meeting

The European Union announced Monday that EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica will attend the first formal meeting of President Trump’s Board of Peace, which will oversee the post-war reconstruction of Gaza, as an observer.

Although the EU will not join the Board of Peace, a spokesperson for the bloc said it was necessary to send a representative to support the effort. The meeting will take place on Thursday in Washington.

“The EU Commission is not becoming a member to the board of peace, we are participating in the meeting precisely in our longstanding commitment to the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, as well as to take part in international efforts to support reconstruction and the post-war recovery in Gaza,” spokesperson Guillaume Mercer said in a statement.

Despite the EU not formally joining the panel, two EU members — Hungary and Bulgaria — participated in a signing ceremony in Davos last month. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was invited to the meeting, but she will not participate.

Another Commission spokesperson, Anouar el Anouni, said over the weekend that the EU still has “a number of questions” about the Board of Peace’s charter, including governance and its compatibility with the U.N. Charter.

“Having said that, we’re certainly prepared to work together with the U.S. when it comes to the implementation of the peace plan for Gaza,” he told reporters.

The EU’s decision follows Mr. Trump’s announcement Sunday that members of the Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding war-torn Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel and police forces to the territory.

The pledges will be officially announced during the meeting on Thursday.

“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History, and it is my honor to serve as its Chairman,” Mr. Trump said in a social media posting announcing the agreement.

Mr. Trump did not say which members were making the pledges or contributing personnel. Indonesia said Sunday that it planned to deploy 8,000 troops by the end of June to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.

While Mr. Trump did score a significant commitment from the Board of Peace members, it is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what it’s expected to cost to rebuild Gaza. The United Nations, World Bank and European Union have estimated reconstruction costs to run about $70 billion.

Mr. Trump’s Board of Peace was initially expected to be the group tasked with ending the Israel-Hamas war, but it has evolved with a far broader agenda of resolving global crises and reconstructing Gaza.

Its first meeting will take place at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department renamed in December as the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace.