Denmark parliament rejects proposal to recognize Palestine News
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Denmark parliament rejects proposal to recognize Palestine

Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday rejected a bill recognizing a Palestinian state, proposed at the end of February by four left-wing parties. Based on voting results, 83 MPs voted against the proposal, while 21 lawmakers in favor.

Speaking at the first parliamentary debate on the proposed bill in April, Foreign Minister Lars L. Rasmussen said that Denmark cannot recognize an independent Palestinian state because of lack of preconditions, such as permanent population, delimited geographical territory, the existence of an effective power that can govern the population and territory within the country, and should be able to act in foreign policy. “We cannot support this resolution, but we wish that there will come a day where we can,” he added. Rasmussen did not attend the final vote on Tuesday.

Radical Venstre, one of the left-wing parties that supported the proposal, commented that the rejection was disappointing and that recognizing Palestine would create hope that a two-state solution was possible.

The question of recognizing Palestine as a state arose again following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. Ireland along with Spain and Norway expressed their intention to formally recognize Palestine earlier this month. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, on the other hand, said that US President Joe Biden does not support recognizing the Palestinian state on his own. Palestine is now recognized as an independent state by 146 countries.

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