Instead of directly refusing the invitation, Brazil should question legal loopholes in Trump’s Peace Council

Spain and Germany refuse Trump’s invitation to be part of the ‘Peace Council’ While studying the invitation made by Donald Trump, president of the United States, to be part of the Peace Council, the Brazilian government sees the movement of other countries regarding participation in the body as an opportunity to discuss the paralysis of the United Nations (UN) in the current geopolitical context. Brazil is also in no rush to respond to Trump’s invitation. The expectation is that, instead of a direct response, the government will send requests for technical clarifications about the legal loopholes in Trump’s statute. The Lula government intends to use the debate surrounding the interests and way of acting of the new unilateral body created by Trump as an argument to defend an immediate reform of the UN Security Council during the organization’s General Assembly, which will take place in September. From this, the strategy designed by diplomatic sources will be to call on other leaders for a reform that democratizes the UN system. Brazil must warn that, if changes do not happen, the world will be governed by models like the one proposed by Trump. Diplomats see Trump’s plan as a testament to the bankruptcy of the current multilateral system. They highlight that the new body only gains traction because the Security Council is no longer able to resolve crises like the one in Gaza. “If Trump stops the genocide in Gaza, he proves that the UN is no longer useful in its current format,” said a source linked to Brazilian diplomacy. President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a meeting with the President of the United States, Donald Trump Ricardo Stuckert/Presidency of the Republic Trump’s Peace Council In the assessment of President Lula’s assistants, Trump’s proposal for the Peace Council has problems: ⁠Fixed presidency: Unlike the UN rotation, the command would be exclusive to the USA. Governance by signature: The statute requires the payment of US$1 billion (around R$5.5 billion) for countries to guarantee a permanent seat. ⁠Lack of dialogue: Trump has already signaled that he does not accept amendments to the text; countries just “join” a ready-made contract. Brazilian government sources also take a pragmatic view that, if Trump’s advice manages to stop the conflict in Gaza — something the UN was unable to do — this will serve as definitive proof of the institutional failure of the United Nations. “If Trump stops the genocide in Gaza, he proves that the UN is no longer useful in its current format,” said a source linked to Brazilian diplomacy. Diplomacy’s assessment is that Brazil should not accept an invitation in which countries simply adhere to a ready-made and unilateral statute written by Washington. Brazil will only participate if the bases of the council are renegotiated from scratch, with the country acting as one of the formulators of the rules and not just as an extra member. Diplomats classify Trump’s model as a “mercantile peace”, as it conditions the weight of decisions on the financial contributions of members. Although the Palestinians welcome the country’s entry into the group, another point of friction is the absence of key actors, such as the Palestinian Authority, which was not even consulted on the status. For the Brazilian government, a council that was born under the fixed presidency of the USA and with explicit support from only one side of the conflict is viewed with concern. The Brazilian government notes that the debate on admission to the collegiate body could be taken to the second semester, becoming more heated as the main topic of debates at the UN General Assembly, in September.

Source link