France is planning to formally recognise Palestinian statehood in the next few months, President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday.
Speaking to France 5 TV during a two-day visit to Egypt, Macron said his aim is to finalise the motion at a United Nations conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict in June, which France will co-chair with Saudia Arabia.
"We must move toward recognition, and so, in the coming months, we will move towards that," Macron told the outlet.
"I will do it...because I think that, at some point, it will be fair and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in turn, which many of them do not," he went on, referencing the Middle Eastern nations which are yet to affirm the Jewish state’s legitimacy.
Macron added that the move would allow France to "be clear in our fight against those who deny Israel's right to exist – which is the case with Iran – and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region”.
It would make France the 12th EU country to recognise Palestinian statehood after Ireland, Spain and Slovenia announced their recognition in 2024.
Palestine is currently recognised as a sovereign nation by 147 of the 193 UN member states, representing 75 percent of the international community.
But the development in the Élysée Palace, which has long supported a two-state solution, is significant given France’s political influence within the EU – though the bloc’s other big beast, Germany, does not appear set to follow suit.
Hwever, the decision has provoked outrage among Israeli figures, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who wrote on X: “A ‘unilateral recognition’ of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas.
"These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer - but the opposite: they only push them further away.”
