French officials are calling highly inaccurate a report from Iran’s Press TV that France will join several South American countries in recognizing Palestine as an independent country.

“Bernard Valero, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Paris agrees with the formation of a Palestinian state based on the exchange of land between Israel and the Palestinians,” Press TV reported.

But a French official told POLITICO Wednesday that the spokesman was simply pointing to a March 1999 European Council declaration which defined the European Union position on the issue.

“The European Union is convinced that the creation of a democratic, viable and peaceful sovereign Palestinian State on the basis of existing agreements and through negotiations would be the best guarantee of Israel's security and Israel's acceptance as an equal partner in the region,” that European Union position states. “The European Union declares its readiness to consider the recognition of a Palestinian State in due course in accordance with the basic principles referred to above.”

Valero “made it clear in his statement that the 1999 principles were providing the perspective for subsequent negotiations on the final status and the parameters one should work on in order to allow the creation of a Palestinian state,” a French official told POLITICO Wednesday.

Asked at a news conference Tuesday about Brazil's and Argentina’s recent decision to recognize Palestine, Valero responded: “With respect to this issue, the principle of recognizing this State was adopted in the 1999 Berlin Declaration,” according to a transcript (full transcript of the exchange below the jump).

http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1210/France_not_recognizing_Palestine.html?showall