Sánchez seeks to gather a critical mass of partners that recognize Palestine so that other countries follow them

Tomorrow the president begins a week of contacts with the leaders of Norway, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia and Belgium

MADRID, 10 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will start this Thursday in Warsaw a busy agenda of contacts with European leaders over the next week with which he seeks to form a critical mass of partners willing to recognize Palestine and thereby encourage others who are still They are a little more reticent to take that step, as explained by Moncloa.

Sánchez has made clear his desire for the recognition of the Palestinian State to be done in the first half of this year but also that he would like to do it together with other EU countries, hence the joint declaration with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia committing to do so. when the right circumstances arise on March 22.

To this end, over the next week he will maintain a series of contacts with the leaders of countries that are more sensitive to the thesis held by Spain that it is necessary to recognize Palestine before any negotiating process so that it can attend on its own. of equality with Israel and the Israelis do not have a kind of veto regarding the creation of the Palestinian State.

Thus, contacts are planned with the new Prime Minister of Ireland, Simon Harris; with the new head of the Portuguese Government, Luis Montenegro; with the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, and with his Belgian counterpart, Alexander de Croo.

Government sources have defended starting with these countries and not with others with more distant positions so as not to waste time or make a mistake, since there are countries that have made their position very clear on this issue, although they have not wanted to mention none in particular.

In Moncloa they argue that the logic of doing it this way is precisely to create a first critical mass of countries that recognize Palestine and start the process so that other countries that are not willing to do so for now do so.

According to sources, among the 15 member states that still do not recognize Palestine, in addition to Spain, there is a significant group that is waiting for a few to take the step and then join them. What the president wants, they have specified, is to be "one of the architects" of this process.

However, the same sources have made it clear that the compelling argument regarding the specific moment in which the Palestinian State is recognized cannot be the number of countries that join and therefore the Government has not set a specific figure nor has any country in particular that must attend.

Thus, although they consider that the more countries take the step, the greater the potential benefit will be for the peace process, Moncloa makes it very clear that it will be the president who decides how to continue moving forward once he has listened to his interlocutors, without offering specific dates. beyond the time horizon already proposed by Sánchez.

In addition, the round includes contacts on Friday in Oslo with the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store. Although Norway is not part of the EU, having hosted the discussions that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords and chairing the ad hoc committee that monitors them to this day gives it particular relevance, hence Sánchez's wanted to address this issue with his prime minister.

The president's international agenda will start this Thursday night, with his participation in a dinner organized by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, in order to design the new strategic agenda of the EU.

Also invited to the meeting were the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk; the Irishman, Simon Harris; the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas; that of Finland, Petteri Orpo; that of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis; and that of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden. This will be the sixth dinner of this type that Michel organizes with European leaders but the first that Sánchez attends, since the previous round, which took place in November, coincided with his investiture.

On Friday morning, the president will travel to Oslo for his meeting with his Norwegian counterpart, and from there to Dublin, where he wants to meet with the new Irish prime minister. His predecessor, Leo Varadkar, was the one who signed the joint declaration with Spain, Malta and Slovenia and given that she comes from the same party, the Government does not a priori expect changes in position, but wants to address the matter with Harris.

Sánchez will continue his contacts on Monday in Madrid, where he will meet in Moncloa with the new Portuguese prime minister. This will be Montenegro's first trip outside of Portugal since he took office last week and will therefore be the first contact between the two. The sources assure that from Lisbon they are willing to maintain the good collaboration that existed with the previous Government of the socialist Antonio Costa.

Next, on Tuesday afternoon, Sánchez will travel to Slovenia to meet with Prime Minister Golob, another of the signatories of the declaration, and on Wednesday morning he will do the same with De Croo in Brussels before the European Council.

The Belgian prime minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU and will hold elections on June 9, is quite in tune with Sánchez on the issue and both traveled together to Israel, Palestine and Egypt, although for now he has not joined the Group of four.