that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has created, with which he has come to point out that it “could” replace the United Nations. “We appreciate the invitation, but we decline,” announced the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the end of the extraordinary European Council that was held this Thursday in Brussels to address the situation of transatlantic relations.
The president gave the news after communicating his decision to EU partners. Already other Member States, such as . Yes, they have accepted leaders close to the Republican, such as the Argentine Javier Milei, the Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu or the Hungarian, Viktor Orbán. There is another EU member that has joined: Bulgaria. Belarus, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye also participated in its creation on Wednesday.
“We do it for consistency,” justified the president, who has made it clear that he has many doubts that the organization that Trump wants to build respects “the multilateral order and the rules of the United Nations.” “In addition,” Sánchez recalled, “it has not included the Palestinian Authority.” The socialist highlights the contradiction that this Board’s primary mission is to pacify the Gaza Strip and there are no guests to the government led by Mahmud Abbas.
The president of the European Council, António Costa, has also expressed his “serious doubts about a series of elements of the statutes of the Peace Board related to its scope of action, its governance and its compatibility with the Charter of the United Nations.” Diplomatic and community sources had also indicated that many European countries would have a hard time sitting at the same board table with countries like Russia or Belarus—also invited and which have already accepted—when the war against Ukraine is still going on and Putin continues to order bombings almost every day. The question, the sources pointed out, was to see to what extent Washington is willing to make the changes that the EU considers necessary before accepting the invitation.
In addition to announcing his resignation from the Peace Board, Sánchez has also distanced himself from Trump when it comes to defense spending. The Republican has once again attacked Spain for not committing to raising spending to 5% of GDP as the rest of the NATO allies have done. “Spain has tripled its investment in defense since I became President of the Government: 34 billion euros a year in defense. Altogether, more than 13 EU countries combined,” he explained, to then emphasize that he is not willing to increase military spending at the expense of making cuts in education or public health.
The President of the Government has also responded to questions about this week’s train accidents in Spain that have claimed the lives of almost 50 people. “High speed in Spain is a source of pride for the entire country. It is a priority for our Government because it improves the way we move,” he defended. He then went on to talk about those affected: “We are going to respond with absolute empathy towards the victims; secondly, with absolute transparency; thirdly, with cooperation between administrations.”
