WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Karol Nawrocki’s administration is weighing whether Poland will attend the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s new Peace Council on Gaza, amid government hesitation over the country’s formal participation in the body.
Presidential chief of staff Zbigniew Bogucki said Sunday that no final decision has been made on Nawrocki’s attendance at Thursday’s session, which is intended to launch the U.S.-driven initiative to administer the Gaza Strip after the Hamas-Israel conflict. He stressed that consultations are still underway both inside the presidential camp and with European partners.
“There is still no such decision,” Bogucki said when asked about Nawrocki’s participation plans for the Thursday meeting. “There are still consultations, both internal and external with European leaders.” He added that leaders from Central and Eastern Europe “would like to have a representative there, to have someone who will represent the interests of this part of Europe.”
Bogucki underlined that the choice ultimately belongs to Nawrocki alone and suggested any announcement would be unambiguous. “It is not my decision,” he said. “If the president makes such a decision, he will clearly say: I am flying or I am not flying.”
The Peace Council is a signature foreign policy initiative of Trump, aimed at creating a multinational mechanism to manage Gaza following the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas. While Washington has been pressing allies to join the project, it has stirred debate in Warsaw over Poland’s role and the legal path for potential participation.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced last week that Poland will not, for now, join the council’s work as a full member, though he left the door open to future engagement. Presenting the decision at a cabinet meeting, Tusk said Poland “will not accede to the work of the Council, but we will continue to analyze [the situation] in a very flexible and, of course, very open way.” He emphasized that relations with the United States “were, are and will remain our priority for obvious reasons” and suggested Poland could revisit its stance “if circumstances change that would allow joining the Council’s work.”
Bogucki seized on that formulation, arguing that the government was avoiding a clear position on whether it supports launching the formal accession process that would require broader ratification procedures. “This position does not exist,” he said of the cabinet’s stance on membership. “The government does not want to define whether it is in favor of starting this process of major ratification.” According to Bogucki, that ambiguity “put the president in an uncomfortable situation” during January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, where the initiative and allied expectations were discussed.
The presidential aide contended that Poles expect the government to take what he called a “manly decision” on joining or rejecting the council outright. “I think Poles would expect from the government, from Prime Minister Tusk, a manly decision: yes or no,” he said. “If yes, then we have arguments. If not, then we have arguments and analyses.”
Bogucki argued that serious statecraft requires the cabinet to present a fully developed recommendation directly to the head of state rather than relying on vague pledges to “analyze” options. “A serious approach is when the prime minister, through the foreign minister with the entire government administration, comes and says: Mr. President, we will not accede,” he said, sketching what he believes an appropriate governmental démarche should look like.
The potential presence of Nawrocki — a close ally of the presidential camp and a polarizing figure in Poland’s domestic politics — as an observer would allow Nawrocki’soffice to maintain a foothold in discussions over Gaza without committing the state to formal membership in the new structure. For Central and Eastern European leaders, Bogucki suggested, such representation could help ensure that their security interests and perspectives are not overshadowed by those of larger Western European states.
At the same time, the government’s cautious line reflects concerns over the political and legal implications of joining a high-profile Trump-led project that may evolve over time. By stopping short of full participation while stressing the importance of the alliance with Washington, Tusk has attempted to strike a balance between domestic sensitivities and strategic ties with the United States.
The back-and-forth underscores lingering tensions between President Nawrocki and the government over foreign policy prerogatives, especially on security and relations with the U.S. As the Thursday meeting of the Peace Council approaches, Nawrocki’s stance will signal how far the presidential palace is prepared to go in shaping Poland’s position on the Gaza file independently of the government.
