Spain declines to confirm date for Palestine’s recognition

Spain declines to confirm date for Palestine’s recognition

Foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares says the decision to recognise Palestine has already been made.

The State of Palestine is currently recognised by nine EU member states. (AP pic)
MOSCOW:
Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares has stopped short of confirming May 21 as a date when Madrid will recognise Palestine as an independent state, while saying that a decision to this effect has already been made, reported Sputnik.

On Wednesday, Irish broadcaster RTE reported that Ireland, Spain and several other EU-member states were considering recognising Palestinian statehood on May 21.

“Decisions of the (Spanish) Council of Ministers should never be anticipated… In fact, it is not so much the exact day that is important, but the decision (on the recognition of Palestine), and the decision has already been made,” Albares said at a panel discussion with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Madrid on Thursday.

In late March, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid had reached an agreement with Ireland, Slovenia and Malta to take the first steps towards recognising the State of Palestine to promote the peace process. The nations later issued a joint statement, in which they expressed their readiness to recognise the State of Palestine under the “right circumstances”.

The State of Palestine is currently recognised by nine EU member states. Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia took this step in 1988, before joining the EU, while Sweden recognised the State of Palestine in 2014.

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