Spain could recognise Palestinian statehood before summer

7 months ago 32

Spain could recognise the Palestinian state before next July, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday, as he faces pressure from his political ally in government, the progressive Sumar platform, to get Spain’s Council of Ministers to back recognition before EU elections in June.

As part of his trip to the Middle East to help find diplomatic solutions to the war between Israel and Hamas, Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) presented his plans to recognise the future “Palestinian state” in a talk with a group of Spanish journalists in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday. He will also travel to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Sánchez discussed the issue with his Irish, Maltese and Slovenian counterparts Leo Varadkar, Robert Abela and Robert Golob in Brussels on 22 March, after which the four pledged to recognise a future Palestinian state if “it can make a positive contribution and the circumstances are right” in a subsequent statement.

Spain’s willingness to recognise the Palestinian state led to a bitter diplomatic rift between Madrid and Tel Aviv that has yet to be resolved.

On a trip with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo (Open VD) to Gaza, Israel and the Rafah border crossing in Egypt in November, Sánchez expressed Spain’s readiness to recognise a Palestinian state, drawing sharp criticism from European People’s Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber and the Spanish right-wing opposition.

The future recognition of the Palestinian state is part of the government agreement between the PSOE and the left-wing Sumar platform, the junior partner in the Spanish government.

Sumar’s commitment to recognition was reiterated on Tuesday by the platform’s spokesman, Ernest Urtasun, in an interview broadcast on Spanish public radio RNE, in which he urged Sánchez to ensure that Spain’s Council of Ministers approves the announced recognition before the EU elections in June.

Sánchez’s aim is for Madrid’s recognition of the Palestinian state not to be unilateral but for a group of EU countries to join Spain.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)