Trump's USA Peace Council

Several European countries reject Trump's Peace Council

Italy is expected to be the latest in a series of European countries that will not agree to join Trump's "peace council", writes the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The newspaper writes that it would be against the country's constitution to join a group headed by a single country's leader.

So far, Sweden, France and Norway have also refused to join the peace council as it stands now. Several other countries have been invited, but have not yet responded.

Hungary seems to be the only European country to have said yes so far.

UN President: "The UN is not only under pressure, but under attack"

Donald Trump's Peace Council is dividing the UN. That is the picture that Annalena Baerbock, German president of the UN General Assembly, gives in her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reports the DPA news agency.

– The UN is not only under pressure, but under attack, she says in the speech.

She points out that the Peace Council has been given a clear mandate to secure the ceasefire in Gaza – not to compete with the UN.

– If certain states now want the law of the jungle to prevail, this cross-regional alliance, despite its internal differences, must resist it and defend the international rules-based order, she says according to the Berliner Zeitung.

The World Economic Forum seems to be more confrontational than ever, and the outcome depends primarily on how the other heads of state treat Trump, writes Junge Freiheit in an analysis.

Sources: Power in the Peace Council is concentrated with Trump

Israel and Egypt accept Donald Trump's invitation to the so-called Peace Council. This means that at least nine countries, including Hungary, Argentina and Belarus, have accepted.

Initially, the idea with the council was that a few world leaders would contribute to maintaining peace in Gaza. But Trump later seems to have broadened the concept to include world peace, a bit like a "shadow UN", writes AP. Sweden and about 50 other countries have been invited.

The council's statutes have not yet been hammered out, but according to a draft that the news agency has seen, a large part of the power in the peace council will be concentrated in Trump himself.

More details are expected when Trump speaks in Davos on Thursday.