Spain, Ireland to recognize Palestinian state on May 21 - Borrell

 Spain, Ireland and other European Union member countries plan to recognize a Palestinian state on May 21, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said late on Thursday ahead of an expected U.N. on Friday on a Palestinian bid to become a full member, Reuters reports.

Asked on local Spanish radio station RNE if May 21 was when Spain, Ireland and other EU countries would recognize a Palestinian state, Borrell said yes, mentioning Slovenia as well.

"This is a symbolic act of a political nature. More than a state, it recognizes the will for that state to exist," he said, adding that Belgium and other countries would probably follow.

According to Reuters, on Friday the United Nations General Assembly is set to back a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognizing it as qualified to join and sending the application back to the U.N. Security Council to "reconsider the matter favourably."

Ireland's national broadcaster RTE said on Thursday that Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta had been waiting for the U.N. vote and were considering a joint recognition on May 21. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in March that Spain and Ireland, along with Slovenia and Malta, had agreed to take the first steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, seeing a two-state solution as essential for lasting peace, the report adds.

Since 1988, 139 out of 193 U.N. member states have recognized Palestinian statehood.