It was a meeting, but without the participation of Palestinians. That reality and the very nature of Donald Trump’s Peace Board had led to the majority of member states and the controversial body. Despite this, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, decided to send a commissioner, the person in charge of the Mediterranean, Dubravka Suica, as an observer at the first meeting in Washington, on Thursday, where the European flag, among others, flew.
has provoked a growing cascade of criticism of the Community Executive. Several countries, including France, Belgium and Spain, have asked the European Commission, which has no powers over foreign policy, for explanations. The community Executive defends its decision.
The commissioner for the Mediterranean will explain her presence in Washington to the foreign ministers on Monday, at a meeting in Brussels. There he met with the leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. Some 14 member states decided to send some kind of emissary to the meeting. Some did it at the last moment and pushed above all by the Italian, Giorgia Meloni, Trump’s ally in Europe, who sent her Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani.
Several European capitals and parties in the European Parliament have called on Brussels to “clearly distance itself” from the American president’s initiative. The French Government has openly attacked the Community Executive. “The European Commission should never have attended the ‘Peace Board’ meeting in Washington today as it had not received a mandate from the Council [Europeo] to do so,” criticized the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, on Thursday. “Beyond the legitimate political issues raised by the ‘Peace Board’, the Commission must scrupulously respect European law and institutional balance in all circumstances,” he added.
This Friday, a spokesperson for the Community Executive defended Suica’s presence in Washington. “With our participation we do not become members of the,” he assured. “Our presence at the meeting was intended to show the EU’s considerable support for Palestine and confirm our willingness to support recovery and resilience in Gaza, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution,” added the community spokesperson, who assured that the flying of the European flag even though the EU was not a member of the board was “the decision of the organizer” of the event.
This Friday, after the meeting in Washington that became the scene for Donald Trump’s self-praise, parties in the European Parliament such as the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the liberals of Renew and the Greens have criticized the decision of the European Commission. In a joint statement, they expressed their “disapproval” of Suica’s presence at the inaugural session of the Peace Board.
“This constitutes a serious error of judgment from an institutional, legal and political point of view, since their participation occurred without a mandate from the Council of the European Union, thus evading the established procedures that guarantee unity and democratic supervision in the EU’s external action,” the formations criticized in the statement issued this Friday.
