Poland eyes constitutional procedure for joining Trump’s Board of Peace

On 22 January, on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump convened the inaugural meeting of his newly announced “Board of Peace”, a foreign policy initiative he presented as a more effective tool for conflict resolution than existing international institutions.

Initially framed as a mechanism to address the war in Gaza, the Board’s statute has since expanded its mandate to cover global conflicts. That shift has fuelled concerns among critics that the initiative could evolve into an alternative to the United Nations, built around personal loyalties rather than multilateral norms.

For most EU leaders, the invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace represents a political dilemma: declining could strain relations with the U.S. president, while joining risks undermining European unity. Nowhere is that tension sharper than on NATO’s eastern flank – and particularly in Poland.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has long emphasised his close relationship with Trump, making an outright refusal politically costly. Yet participation carries its own risks. The prospect of a “family photo” of the Board of Peace that could include Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko poses a serious problem for a country that has built its security policy around resistance to Russian aggression.

At the Davos presentation, Trump openly framed the initiative in personal terms. “These are my friends,” he said, gesturing toward the assembled leaders. “Usually I have two or three that I can’t stand. But here, I like every single one of them”.

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Nearly twenty leaders attended the ceremony. From the EU, however, only two prime ministers were present: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Bulgaria’s Rosen Zhelyazkov. Orbán’s attendance was widely expected. The Hungarian leader has openly aligned himself with Trump in his confrontation with the European Commission, a stance that carries particular weight ahead of Hungary’s April parliamentary elections, where Orbán’s party is no longer the clear frontrunner.

Notably absent were other European figures often portrayed as sympathetic to Trump. Slovakia’s Robert Fico did not attend, nor did former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, frequently cast as a bridge between Washington and Brussels, formally announced that Italy would not join the Board of Peace.

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Poland, by contrast, received an early invitation. Yet Nawrocki stopped short of either accepting or rejecting it outright. “Poland’s participation in the Board of Peace is important and necessary,” he said, stressing his unwavering support for Trump and Trump’s support for Poland. At the same time, he noted that any such international agreement must pass through full constitutional procedures – a point he said had been discussed with Trump and met with understanding.

In Warsaw, Trump’s invitation has triggered an intense political debate. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has underlined that participation in international organisations of this kind requires ratification by parliament and approval by the Council of Ministers. In other words, the final decision does not rest with the president alone.

The stakes are particularly high for Poland as a frontline state. On one hand, joining a U.S.-led global initiative could reinforce strategic ties with Washington and enhance Poland’s international profile, especially in a year when it has already been invited to the G20 summit in Miami. Trump’s personal backing of Nawrocki during last year’s presidential campaign adds another layer of political sensitivity.

On the other hand, Trump’s decision to invite Russia and Belarus into the Board of Peace cuts directly against Poland’s long-standing security consensus. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski publicly mocked the invitation extended to Putin, signalling that legitimising aggressor states amid an ongoing war in Ukraine is unacceptable.

For Nawrocki, the issue has become an early test of political balance. Joining the initiative without parliamentary backing could expose him to accusations of overstepping presidential powers. Refusing outright could be portrayed as weakening ties with the United States. For Poland’s right-wing opposition, the issue could serve as a mobilisation tool; for Tusk’s government, as proof of its control over foreign policy.

Across the eastern flank, similar calculations are unfolding. Lithuania has already signalled it would only consider joining the Board of Peace after achieving consensus among Nordic countries – effectively postponing the decision indefinitely. Poland appears to be adopting a comparable strategy, opting for constitutional review and extended consultations in the hope of buying time.

Ukraine, too, seems to be following a cautious wait-and-see approach.

Paradoxically, the challenge may strengthen Poland internally. For perhaps the first time in years, both the Tusk government and President Nawrocki are signalling a willingness to act in concert to navigate what many in Warsaw see as a “Trump trap”. Whether this cooperation endures remains uncertain. But the episode underscores a broader reality for Europe’s eastern flank: in an era of personalised power politics, security choices are becoming as much about political timing as about alliances themselves.

The original article in Ukrainian was published by EUalive’s partner European Pradva.

Caption: United States President Donald J. Trump (R) and President Karol Nawrocki (L) of the Republic of Poland watch a fly-over of US military jets during their arrival at the South Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 03 September 2025. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL