Spain’s Sánchez to announce date for Palestinian recognition on Wednesday

6 months ago 19

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is to announce on Wednesday the exact date Madrid and possibly other EU partners will recognise Palestinian statehood, despite earlier reports stating that he would announce on Tuesday.

In an interview on La Sexta, Sánchez (PSOE/S&D), it was confirmed that he would not announce on Tuesday, despite reports from some diplomatic sources and Spanish and Irish media last week that he would.

“It will be in the next few days”, Sánchez told La Sexta, confirming that he still had to coordinate some additional details with other EU partners, including Malta, Ireland and Slovenia, which all signed a joint declaration in March showing their “readiness” to recognise Palestine as a state.

“I am waiting to receive this weekend (referring to last weekend) the final details”, said Sánchez, adding that he intends to announce the exact date of recognition before the Spanish parliament on Wednesday.

“Different countries have to raise the flag of recognition of the State of Palestine so that this idea survives and raises a political horizon of peace and peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine”, added Sánchez, noting that on Wednesday, he will – almost certainly – be able to “clarify the day on which Spain will recognise the Palestinian state”.

Asked whether he would describe the killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza as genocide, Sánchez said he has “serious doubts” that human rights are being respected in the region but stressed that this is for the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague to clarify.

Sumar calls for breaking off relations with Israel

Recognition of Palestinian statehood was one of the conditions set by the left-wing Sumar platform, led by Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz, for signing a government pact with Sánchez in October 2023.

“It is not enough to recognise the Palestinian state”, said Sumar’s “number two” for its EU election list, Jaume Asens, on Saturday.

Spain must “break off institutional and commercial relations with Israel to stop its war machine”, Asens added, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

“We are at a key moment in Europe. The bombs falling on Gaza are falling on Europe, and that is why we are going out to demonstrate to express our rejection of the passivity of the (European Union) EU and its governments”, Asens added.

The recognition of Palestinian statehood was one of the conditions set by the left-wing Sumar platform for signing a government pact with Sánchez in October 2023. The prime minister announced in April that Spain would probably recognise the Palestinian state before the summer and urged EU partners who had not yet done so to take the same decision in a coordinated manner.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)