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Merz says Berlin cannot accept Trump's Board of Peace plan in current form

AL-Monitor
Jan 23, 2026
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a joint statement with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (not pictured) at the end of Italian-German government consultations at Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, Italy, January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a joint statement with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (not pictured) at the end of Italian-German government consultations at Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, Italy, January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Remo Casilli — Remo Casilli

ROME, Jan 23 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday he would be ready to join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative for the sake of Gaza but could not accept the plan in its current form.

"In the form in which the peace board is currently set up, we cannot accept its governance structures in Germany for constitutional reasons," Merz said in a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

"However, we are of course prepared to explore other forms -- new forms -- of cooperation with the United States of America if the aim is to find new formats that bring us closer to peace in different regions of the world."

Merz said these formats would not need to be limited only to Gaza and the Middle East but could also apply, for example, to Ukraine.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke in Rome, additional reporting by Friederike Heine and Linda Pasquini, writing by Sarah Marsh, editing by Thomas Seythal)