Amid France’s moves towards recognising the Palestinian state, the Lithuanian foreign minister says his country could do it too, but only “at the right time” and when others do it first.
According to Kęstutis Budrys, the priority at the moment should be hostage release and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“Stabilising the process itself and working out a roadmap, and part of that must surely be a Palestinian state,” he told the Žinių Radijas radio on Thursday. “As to when to recognise it, Lithuania is of course monitoring what is being proposed by France and the decisions of other states. When there is a majority of them, when we see that the time is right, we will certainly consider that as well.”
According to him, the government’s programme envisages supporting a two-state solution.
“We believe that such a solution would ensure stability and peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine, and I believe that we will achieve it, but the question is when it should be done and under what conditions, and how it will contribute to improving the current situation, which has been on the verge of tragedy for a long time,” Budrys said.
“I am referring to the situation of the hostages who are still not released, still being held, it is not known how many of them are still alive, and we are disappointed that the ceasefire has failed... We need to discuss how this improves the situation, let’s concentrate on the priorities, which are hostages, ceasefire, and stabilisation of the process,” the minister added.
Early in April, French President Emmanuel Macron angered Israel when he said that Paris considered recognising a Palestinian state.
The French leader said at the time that France could make the move at a UN conference in New York in June on settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Nearly 150 countries have recognised Palestinian statehood. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain announced recognition, followed by Slovenia in June, moves partly fuelled by outrage at Israel’s bombing of Gaza that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
Israel insists that moves to recognise the Palestinian state are premature.
Meanwhile, Macron said he hoped French recognition would encourage others to follow and that countries which did not recognise Israel should also do so.
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