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
Merz Rejects Trump's Board of Peace Plan as Currently Structured
Merz's Position on Trump's Peace Initiative
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.
Concerns Over Governance Structures
"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.
Exploring New Cooperation Formats
"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)
