France to recognize Palestinian state by June, Macron announces
France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he addresses the media during a press conference at the end of a Special European Council to discuss continued support for Ukraine and European defence at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on March 6, 2025. (AFP Photo)
France plans to recognize a Palestinian state within the next few months, with the potential to make the move during a United Nations conference in New York in June, President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday.
“We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron said in an interview with France 5 television, following his visit to Egypt earlier this week. “Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition (of a Palestinian state) by several parties,” he added.
Macron’s comments come amid growing international calls for a political resolution to the conflict in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 50,000 people since October 2023, and the broader Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
‘Not a taboo for France’
In February 2024, Macron stated that recognizing a Palestinian state was “not a taboo for France,” emphasizing that such a move is both a moral and political necessity.
“We owe it to the Palestinians, whose aspirations have been trampled on for too long. We owe it to the Israelis who experienced the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century. We owe it to a region that yearns to escape the promoters of chaos and the sowers of revenge,” he said at the time.
Over 140 UN member states recognize Palestine
As of now, 147 of the 193 U.N. member states recognize the state of Palestine. Last May, Spain, Ireland, and Norway joined the list, bringing the total number of EU countries granting recognition to 10, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and Romania.
Several other European countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Belarus, have also recognized Palestinian statehood.
