Spanish PM to Lobby EU Partners for Palestinian State Recognition

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will meet several of his European Union counterparts over the next week to try to garner support for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the government said on Tuesday.

Sanchez’s agenda includes meetings with the prime ministers of Norway, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia, and Belgium focusing on the EU’s position regarding the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, government spokesperson Pilar Alegria told reporters.

“We want to stop the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and help kickstart a political peace process leading to the realization of the two-state solution as early as possible,” Alegria said.

Sanchez has previously said he expects Madrid to extend recognition to the Palestinians by July and that he believes there would soon be a “critical mass” within the EU to push several members to adopt the same position.

Spain, Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia announced last month they would jointly work toward recognition of a Palestinian state.

Israel told the four EU countries their initiative would amount to a “prize for terrorism” that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the generations-old conflict.

Israeli forces launched a military campaign against Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7 and went on a killing spree, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others as hostages.

The EU has had much less sway on the conflict than the United States, Israel‘s closest ally, which has said a peace deal and Palestinian statehood can be reached only through direct negotiations, which have been stalled by entrenched disputes for a decade.

Sanchez is set to begin his diplomatic campaign with a trip to Oslo and Dublin on April 12, where he will meet with Norway’s Jonas Gahr Stoere and Ireland’s new premier Simon Harris.