The deputy prime minister of Belgium has corrected the list released by the White House to the media of the more than 20 nations that it said signed the charter of the newly inaugurated Board of Peace this morning in Davos.
“Belgium has NOT signed the Charter of the Board of Peace. This announcement is incorrect,” Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot said on X. “We wish for a common and coordinated European response. As many European countries, we have reservations to the proposal.”
The original list circulated by the White House included Belgium, alongside Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Laurens Soenen, a spokesperson for Prévot, said that “Belgium has at no point had any intention of signing the charter.”
“We have informed our American discussion partners of the reasons why we could not sign the charter in its current form,” Soenen said.
A source familiar with the matter had previously told NBC News that Belgium originally signed on to joining the Board, but backed out at the last minute. Soenen denied this.
Many Western European nations allied with Washington have voiced their reservations about joining the Board out of concerns that it could replace the United Nations and over the invitations being extended to regimes such as Russia and Belarus.
