BERLIN: The leaders of Germany and Portugal said Friday the time was not ripe to recognize a Palestinian state, after three other European nations announced plans to do so.
“We have no reason to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a separate state now,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a press conference after talks with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
“There is no clarity about the territory of the state and other questions related to it,” he said.
“What we need is a negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians that amounts to a two-state solution... but we are still a long way from there,” he said.
“Symbolic recognition of statehood does not bring us further” toward the goal, he added.
Speaking at the same press conference, Montenegro said Portugal was also “not in the position to” recognize a Palestinian state.
“We are waiting for the (related) issues to be further discussed within the European Union,” he added.
Ireland, Norway and Spain on Wednesday announced they intended to recognize the State of Palestinian next week.
The announcement drew fury from Israel, which warned of “serious consequences” for ties with the European nations.
For decades, formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the end goal of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
The United States and most western European nations have said they are willing to one day recognize Palestinian statehood, but not before agreement is reached on thorny issues like final borders and the status of Jerusalem.
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Germany, Portugal say time not ripe to recognize Palestinian state
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Germany, Portugal say time not ripe to recognize Palestinian state
- “There is no clarity about the territory of the state and other questions related to it,” Scholz said
- Montenegro said Portugal was also “not in the position to” recognize a Palestinian state
Russia says talks on US peace plan for Ukraine ‘are proceeding constructively’
- The talks are part of the Trump administration’s push for peace, which included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said much depends on the US posture after discussions with the Russians
A Kremlin envoy says peace talks on a US-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were pressing on “constructively” in Florida.
The talks are part of the Trump administration’s monthslong push for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week.
“The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters Saturday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Dmitriev met with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami, the agency reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that much will depend on the US posture after discussions with the Russians. This came a day after Ukraine’s chief negotiator said his delegation had completed separate meetings in the United States with American and European partners.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signaled he is digging in on his maximalist demands on Ukraine, as Moscow’s troops inch forward on the battlefield despite huge losses.
On Friday, Putin expressed confidence that the Kremlin would achieve its military goals if Kyiv didn’t agree to Russia’s conditions in peace talks.
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, although they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds. Instead, they were borrowed from capital markets.
The talks are part of the Trump administration’s monthslong push for peace that also included meetings with Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin earlier this week.
“The discussions are proceeding constructively. They began earlier and will continue today, and will also continue tomorrow,” Kirill Dmitriev told reporters Saturday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Dmitriev met with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Miami, the agency reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that much will depend on the US posture after discussions with the Russians. This came a day after Ukraine’s chief negotiator said his delegation had completed separate meetings in the United States with American and European partners.
Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end the war, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signaled he is digging in on his maximalist demands on Ukraine, as Moscow’s troops inch forward on the battlefield despite huge losses.
On Friday, Putin expressed confidence that the Kremlin would achieve its military goals if Kyiv didn’t agree to Russia’s conditions in peace talks.
European Union leaders agreed on Friday to provide 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years, although they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds. Instead, they were borrowed from capital markets.
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