It is a question of historical, political and geostrategic justice, in the opinion of Pedro Sánchez. After his recent tour of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the President of the Government embarks on a new journey this Thursday that continues the previous one, this time within the borders of the European Union, and which in just 48 hours will take him to Warsaw, Oslo and Dublin. Sánchez’s purpose is to continue adding allies to his determination so that Spain, along with other countries in the community club, recognizes the Palestinian State before this summer. His intention is to gather a “critical mass” of EU member states, which in turn will drag other European countries to take the step. The more there are, they argue in Moncloa, the more beneficial it will be to advance a resolution of the historic conflict between Israel and Palestine, on equal terms. And Sánchez wants to be the architect of this entire process.
Precisely on June 9, the elections to the European Parliament will be held in Spain, which the Council of Ministers already called last Tuesday. It will be a momentous appointment with the polls for the future of the European Union, in a very turbulent international geopolitical context and maximum tension, in which the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza stands out, which also threatens to spread throughout the Middle East. At the same time, the UN Security Council has on the table, pending resolution this April, the request to incorporate Palestine as a full member state.
Sánchez’s work agenda starts this evening, with the Spanish president’s attendance at the new high-level dinner organized by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the Laziwenki Krolewskie Lake Palace, in Warsaw. The host, the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, will also be present at the event, as well as the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Kaja Kallas; Greece, Kyriákos Mitsotákis; Finland, Petteri Orpo; and Ireland, Simon Harris. Although the reason for Michel’s call is to prepare the extraordinary meeting of the European Council that will be held on Wednesday and Thursday of next week in Brussels, to debate the new strategic agenda of the EU, at Moncloa they take it for granted that the dramatic situation in Gaza and the urgent need, in Sánchez’s opinion, to promote the recognition of the Palestinian State will also be addressed.
This Friday, the President of the Government will complete the first phase of this new European tour, seeking to consolidate alliances to commit to the recognition of Palestine as a State, with a stopover in the morning in Oslo, where he will meet with the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store; and in the afternoon in Dublin, where he will meet again with the newly appointed Prime Minister of Ireland, Simon Harris.
Sánchez has chosen Norway and Ireland to continue advancing in the political process that aims to culminate in an imminent recognition of the Palestinian State, after on March 22 he managed to promote a joint commitment with the prime ministers of Ireland, Malta and Slovenia. On that occasion, however, it was Leo Varadkar who signed the Irish commitment, and now the Spanish president wants his successor, Simon Harris, who has just taken office, to also support this initiative. As for Norway, at the Moncloa they put forward historical reasons, due to the traditional mediation role of this country in the Middle East conflict, since the Oslo conference in 1993, which was a continuation of the one in Madrid in 1991.
The President of the Government has opted to address first of all countries that have a position closer and more similar to that of Spain, regarding the recognition of the Palestinian State. Precisely, to increase the number of EU Member States willing to take the step, and to have a knock-on effect on other more distant countries with this initiative. The initiative, according to Moncloa, could have powerful allies in the community club, such as France, despite the resistance of Germany, one of Israel’s strongest supporters.
And after putting on his electoral campaign suit again on Saturday, when Sánchez, as leader of the PSOE, will star in a new rally, this time in San Sebastián, to support the socialist candidate for the elections in Euskadi on April 21, Eneko Andueza , on Monday he will receive the new Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, who has just replaced António Costa in office, at the Moncloa Palace.
Already on Tuesday, Sánchez will get back on the plane to travel to Slovenia, where he will meet with the Prime Minister, Robert Golob. And the Spanish president will conclude his tour in Brussels, before the extraordinary meeting of the European Council begins, to meet again with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo, with whom Sánchez already shared his first tour of Spain in November last year. Middle East, after the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out in Gaza.
On that occasion, Sánchez and De Croo visited together Beniamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem (Israel), Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah (West Bank) and Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo (Egypt). And both leaders culminated their journey at the Rafah crossing, the southern gate of Gaza, where Sánchez already committed Spain’s recognition of the Palestinian State, even unilaterally if the EU did not move in this direction. With this new European tour, the President of the Government wants to continue promoting this initiative, which he wants to adopt before the summer. And he is convinced that he will not do it alone.
