The Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Austria and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and international organizations in Vienna, Salah Abdel Shafi, said that a decision is expected from Slovenia and Belgium to recognize the State of Palestine.

Salah Abdel Shafi explained: “Palestine expects that the next countries in the European Union that will recognize it will be Slovenia and Belgium, and a decision is expected to be issued in Slovenia in the first half of next month.”

He added, "The Slovenian government decided to officially recognize Palestine as a state more than a week ago, but the procedure is that Parliament must take this decision, in what is considered a formality because all government parties requested recognition, and government parties have a majority of votes in Parliament, and in this regard, We expect the recognition to be issued by mid-June.”

He also stressed: “We also expect Belgium to recognize Palestine as a state, because Belgium has already made clear that it is considering this positively and has previously announced such intentions.”

Ireland, Spain and Norway followed the example of many European countries by announcing on Wednesday that they would recognize the Palestinian state. While the Arab countries widely welcomed this approach, the decision was met with Israeli anger.

Abdel Shafi has been the Palestinian Ambassador to Austria and a permanent observer to the United Nations in Vienna since 2013. In addition, since October 2014, he has also been the Palestinian Ambassador to Slovenia, and since 2021, the Palestinian Ambassador to Croatia, with his residence in Vienna. From 2010 to 2013, Abdel Shafi served as the Palestinian Ambassador to Germany.