Germany and Norway have both decided against joining U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace,” citing concerns that the initiative could undermine established international institutions, particularly the United Nations.
Germany’s government is opposed to participating because the plan risks weakening the U.N. and would grant Trump predefined powers under the initiative, Spiegel magazine reported on Wednesday, citing a foreign ministry document.
Citing the document, an internal memo prepared last weekend for a meeting of EU ambassadors, Spiegel reported that the German government also took issue with predetermined powers that Trump would received under the initiative.
A German government spokesman said on Monday that Berlin would examine what contribution it could make to the "Board of Peace".
Norway also ruled out participation.
"The American proposal raises a number of questions" requiring "further dialogue with the United States", State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner said in a statement.
"Norway will therefore not join the proposed arrangements for the Board of Peace, and will therefore not attend a signing ceremony in Davos," Thoner said. Norway would continue its close cooperation with the United States, he added.
Trump's Board of Peace was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but according to its charter the scope does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.
The U.S. administration has asked countries to pay up to $1 billion for a permanent spot on the board, on which Trump will serve as chairman.
"For Norway, it is important how this proposal is linked to established structures as the U.N., and to our international commitments," Thoner added.
The government representative added that Norway shared Trump's "goal of lasting peace in Ukraine, Gaza and in other situations".
The Board of Peace initiative, which comes amid a growing transatlantic rift over Greenland, tariffs and other issues, has drawn a cautious response from some close U.S. allies who are often uncomfortable with Trump's belligerent, unilateralist, "America First" approach to international diplomacy.
Sweden has also declined the invitation while while Italy's Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said joining the board appeared problematic. Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera reported that joining a group led by one country's leader would violate Italy's constitution.
France also intends to decline the invitation, a source close to President Emmanuel Macron said, prompting Trump to threaten to hit French wines and champagnes with 200% tariffs unless Paris joined his board.
Canada said it has agreed "in principle" to join but that the details were still being worked out. Other key U.S. allies including Britain and Japan have not yet taken a clear public stance.
Ukraine has said its diplomats are examining the invitation but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said it is hard for him to imagine being on any board with Russia after four years of war.
Meanwhile, Witkoff said on Wednesday that up to 25 countries had so far accepted the invitation to join the Board of Peace.
These include Middle East allies such as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. NATO members Türkiye and Hungary, whose leaders have cultivated good personal ties with Trump, have also agreed to take part.
Others who have accepted include Armenia and Azerbaijan, which reached a U.S.-brokered peace agreement last August after meeting Trump at the White House.
More controversially, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, long shunned by the West over his country's poor human rights record and backing for Russia's war in Ukraine, has accepted Trump's invitation, which comes amid a broader rapprochement between Washington and Minsk.
Russia, which has also seen frosty relations with Washington improve markedly as Trump courts President Vladimir Putin while accusing Kyiv of blocking efforts to end the Ukraine war, has not yet said whether it will join the Board of Peace.
Neither has China, which has often been at loggerheads with Trump but recently struck a delicate trade truce.
Russia and China are traditionally strong supporters of the United Nations, and both are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, so are likely to be cautious about any initiatives that could be seen as undermining the world body.
Trump, who has often criticized the U.N. as ineffective, played down concerns this week that he might want his Board to replace the world body, saying: "I believe you got to let the U.N. continue because the potential is so great."
It remains unclear what legal authority or enforcement tools the Board of Peace will have or how it will work with the United Nations and other international organizations.
The Board's charter says its chairman, Trump, will have extensive executive power, including the ability to veto decisions and remove members, subject to some constraints.
According to its charter, the Board of Peace will undertake "peace-building functions in accordance with international law".
The White House has also announced a Gaza Executive Board to support a transitional Palestinian administration in Gaza. It is unclear how the founding Executive Board and the Gaza Executive Board, which share some members, will function in practice.
