Barcelona: Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Friday described the European Commission’s presence at US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace inaugural meeting in Washington as a ‘mistake,’ according to Swiss Info, citing the Spanish news agency EFE.

According to Anadolu Agency, Albares’ remarks were made at an event in Barcelona, following Trump’s convening of the meeting on Thursday. The meeting of his newly established group brought together representatives from more than 20 countries to discuss the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and broader international stabilization efforts.

Despite the EU’s decision to decline joining the initiative, it sent Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Suica to attend the portion of the meeting dedicated to Gaza. “It pained me to see a European Union commissioner who shouldn’t have been there,” Albares lamented.

While expressing respect for Trump’s “effort,” Albares argued that “there are other ways” to achieve peace in the Middle East. He emphasized that the EU supports a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict and therefore ‘cannot participate’ in any organization that excludes the Palestinian National Authority.

Albares further explained that the Spanish government declined the invitation to participate because the Palestinians were not included and the peace plan devised by the US “raises serious doubts about its compatibility with international law.”