EU turns down Palestinian recognition plan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 | 8:45 AM ET
CBC News
The European Union on Tuesday turned down a Palestinian plan to get recognition as an independent state at the UN Security Council without Israeli consent.
"I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state, but there has to be one first, so I think that is somewhat premature," said Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Bildt said "the conditions are not there as of yet" for the EU to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
EU foreign ministers on Tuesday were discussing ways with the United States to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks restarted, said EU external relations minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
Bildt said he understood why the Palestinians made the proposal.
"It is clearly an act borne by a difficult situation where they don't see any road ahead and I can understand that," he said.
The Palestinian plan, which was put to the EU on Monday, has already been rejected by the U.S. government.
Israel has threatened to void past accords if the Palestinians act on their own.
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