Austria will not join US President Donald Trump's Peace Council, the Federal Chancellor's foreign policy spokeswoman Christian Stocker told the APA news agency.
Austria is ready to contribute to lasting peace in the Middle East, "but as a staunch defender of a cooperative, multilateral system and as one of the four countries hosting the UN headquarters, we do not want to create parallel structures," the spokeswoman said.
Experts see this council as a caricature of a world organization. Trump has secured for himself full decision-making power in the council, of which he will be the life chairman - i.e. and after the end of his term as US president, commented Austrian Radio and Television (ORF).
The council is not open to all countries in the world. Trump invited only about 60 countries, including Austria. The majority of the invited EU countries also refused to participate. Hungary and Bulgaria want to join, Italy and Greece have announced that they will participate as observers in the founding meeting in Washington, the Austrian media reports.
According to Stocker's foreign policy spokeswoman, it has not yet been decided whether Austria will take on the "observer role" in the council.