The President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, at the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, January 22, 2026. Photo: Harry Nakos / AP / Profimedia
Nicușor Dan received the invitation from Donald Trump to participate in the first meeting of the Peace Council, sources from the Presidential Administration told Digi24. The inaugural meeting is scheduled for February 19.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Saturday that he will go to Washington “in two weeks” to attend the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump's “Council for Peace”.
“Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington as the Peace Council, the peace body, will have its inaugural meeting,” the Hungarian prime minister said at a campaign event in the western Hungarian city of Szombathely.
What is Trump's proposed “Peace Council”.
First mentioned in a 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas, the Peace Council received a mandate from the UN Security Council and was initially thought to focus only on the Gaza Strip, but members of the Trump administration later said it would also turn its attention to conflicts in other areas of the world, although the body's purpose remains unclear for now, according to The New York Times.
The Romanian Presidential Administration announced on January 18th the receipt of a letter from the American president officially inviting Romania to become a member of the Peace Council. The invitation also comes with a price tag: a billion dollar fee to become a permanent member.
What Nicușor Dan said about Romania's decision
On January 20, Nicușor Dan said that he welcomes Donald Trump's initiative and starts “an in-depth analysis process of the content and implications of the Board of Peace Charter, in relation to the international commitments previously assumed by Romania, especially those within the United Nations Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as the European Union”.
Recently asked in a show on Digi24, if he has reached a decision regarding the answer that Romania will give, Nicușor Dan stated that this process can take “weeks, even months” and cited the Council's Charter as an obstacle to a faster decision.
“The way in which the initial Charter of this body was drafted raised some problems for Romania and other states as well. As soon as we received it, we started to consult with each other. Now we have all entered into a process of negotiating this Charter so that it is compatible with other international treaties, sometimes even with the constitutions of some countries. The process will last weeks or even months,” the president told Digi24.
Opponents of the US project say Trump is trying to build an alternative or rival to the United Nations, which he has long criticized.
The Council is described in its Charter as “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore reliable and lawful governance, and ensure lasting peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”
According to the draft charter, Trump is to be its first president and decide who will be invited to become a member. Decisions will be taken by majority vote, with each member state present having one vote, but all will be subject to the president's approval, the draft statute says.
