Portugal will recognise a Palestinian state on Sunday, the Portuguese ministry for foreign affairs said in a statement on Friday.
Foreign minister Paulo Rangel had already said this week that the country was considering the recognisition of a Palestinian state during a visit to the UK.
Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first.
A minority of the 27 European Union members recognise Palestine as a state, including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria as well as Sweden and Cyprus. French president Emmanuel Macron said in July that his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly at the end of this month.
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The UN General Assembly approved the de-facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in November 2012 by upgrading its observer status at the world body to “non-member state” from “entity”.
Israel is facing a growing global outcry, given that its war against Hamas in Gaza is causing many deaths, starvation and devastation. - Additional reporting by Reuters
