The European Union’s top diplomats are scheduled to meet in Brussels with Nikolay Mladenov, the director of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, amid ongoing debate over the initiative’s role in shaping the future of the Gaza Strip.
Nikolay Mladenov, a former U.N. envoy and Bulgarian politician appointed to lead the board, will hold talks with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and foreign ministers from the 27-member bloc. Discussions are also expected to cover the war in Ukraine and new sanctions against Russia. The EU maintains close ties to both Israel and the Palestinians, oversees operations at the Rafah border crossing, and remains the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority.
The Trump-backed Board of Peace has divided EU capitals, with members such as Hungary and Bulgaria joining as full participants, while several others, including Austria, Germany, Italy and Poland, attended its inaugural Washington meeting as observers.
Senior figures like Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen declined full participation, though the Commission sent Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Šuica as an observer, a move criticized by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said, “The European Commission should never have attended the Board of Peace meeting in Washington.”
As Trump pushes expansive plans ranging from rebuilding Gaza into a modern metropolis to reshaping global conflict resolution frameworks, EU leaders are weighing how to influence reconstruction efforts while upholding the United Nations’ mandate and navigating the fragile ceasefire on the ground.
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