OPINION - Europe and the thorny process of recognizing Palestine

The author is associate researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute (Paris), and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges and Natolin)

ISTANBUL

A well-accepted legal definition of a state implies the existence of a territory, a population, and a government. Beyond these requirements is the need for recognition by a majority of peers, among which preferably a fair number of the powerful ones: a state really exists when it is recognized by its neighbors and incidentally by the great powers.

The case of Palestine is interesting in this respect. As of 2024, 143 countries out of 193 UN members have recognized the Palestinian state. This includes Türkiye, China, Russia and all Arab states, and virtually all African states (only Cameroon and Eritrea have not.)

No US recognition

But neither the US nor any of the G-7 countries have recognized Palestine, and Europe is the continent that has done so the least. Only a third of the EU members have recognized Palestine as an independent state, with only Sweden having done so while being an EU member. The other eight – Malta, the Greek Cypriot administration, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland – have recognized Palestine before joining the EU.

Within the EU, the process of recognizing states is a national prerogative and is therefore not subject to an EU procedure or decision. For those European countries that have not recognized Palestine, recognition is not rejected per se, but it is to be considered in the broader framework of a peace process with Israel. Such was the spirit of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, which ultimately were about an anticipation of a two-state solution.

This issue is echoed within the UN whenever Palestine's membership is being discussed. On April 18, 2024, the UN Security Council was unable to adopt a draft resolution recommending the granting of UN membership to Palestine. Although 12 (out of 15) Security Council members voted in favor of the text, Switzerland and the UK abstained, and the US cast its veto. As one of the 5 permanent members of the supreme UN body together with China, Russia, France and the UK, the US enjoys a veto right on any text put to the vote before the council.

EU still divided on Palestinian statehood

The three EU states currently sitting at the UN Security Council (France as permanent member and Slovenia and Malta as elected members) have voted in favor of the April 18 resolution, thus explicitly supporting Palestine’s full membership to the UN.

A couple of weeks later though, EU member states were divided on a similar vote, this time at the UN General Assembly where all UN members sit. On May 10, 143 states voted in favor of a resolution urging the UN Security Council to give “favorable consideration” to Palestine’s application for full UN membership. But Hungary and the Czech Republic, both of them Israel’s close European allies, voted against, while no less than 11 EU members abstained. To explain their votes, these states have reiterated their support for the legitimate Palestinian right to statehood in the context of a two-state solution, but insist that any move on such request must be linked to a broader peace process.

Towards collective recognition?

Things are not that static though. As a matter of fact, several EU members are said to be close to recognize Palestine in the coming weeks. Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Belgium have been mentioned by EU policy chief Josep Borrell, and others might also be contemplating the move. Discussions are ongoing about the political signal that a joint recognition would send to Israel in the current quagmire in Gaza.

Having a group of European states make such a move would be a way to put pressure on Israel while somehow breaking with the principled position of linking Palestinian statehood with a broader negotiated settlement. Both the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have recently stated that recognizing Palestine was “not a taboo," while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared that it was “in Europe’s interest.”

Frustration over Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza has undoubtedly impacted Europe’s position over the virtues of Palestine’s recognition. Unless talking about it is more a way to look good and possibly get the Israeli side to show restraint in Gaza, so far unsuccessfully, than to genuinely influence local dynamics over which Europe has little control, if any.

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu.