The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, will be at the meeting in the Belgian capital, where he will also be received by the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, at the headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance.

The war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza will be one of the priority topics of the meeting, with the European ministers having the opportunity to discuss the matter with their counterparts from various Arab countries, with the aim of addressing a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine).

The ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, were invited to participate in the Foreign Affairs Council.

This meeting in the Belgian capital takes place one day before Spain, Ireland and Norway (which is not part of the European bloc) formally (and unilaterally) recognize Palestine as a state. This issue will be addressed during the meeting, since a common EU position is only possible with the consensus of all countries.

On the day that Madrid, Dublin and Oslo announced that they would recognize the Palestinian State, a position that will be formalized on Tuesday, Portuguese diplomacy stated that it maintains the willingness to recognize Palestine as a State, but that it is trying to obtain the greatest possible consensus among the members of the EU.

"It's just a matter of time," a source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Lusa at the time, recalling that Portugal has a mediating position in the EU on this issue, and is therefore "in consultations with several States to reach the greatest possible consensus and bring the greatest number of countries to the solution" of two States: Israel and Palestine.

Another key point of the meeting is Ukraine and the developments of the Russian offensive, which has intensified in the Kharkiv region (northeast), with the record of heavy bombardments conducted by Russian forces that have destroyed residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, killed and injured dozens and displaced thousands.

The issue will be addressed by the 27 leaders with their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.

Ukraine, namely President Volodymyr Zelensky, has insisted on the urgency of receiving more weapons, including air defense systems, as soon as possible, or it will be unable to stop the Russian offensive.

Today's meeting will also be in preparation for the peace summit to be held in Lucerne (central Switzerland) on 15 and 16 June.

On Sunday, Zelensky publicly invited his counterparts from the United States, Joe Biden, and China, Xi Jinping, to participate in the summit.

Speaking to Lusa, a European source highlighted the importance of this summit and the expectations for the meeting.

"We can expect a framework for achieving peace," he said.

The political situation in Georgia, a country with EU candidate status and which will hold parliamentary elections this year, and the recent parliamentary approval of the controversial foreign agents law, also known as the "Russian law", will also be addressed by the ministers.

The so-called "Russian law", whose name is due to its similarity to a legislation existing in Russia to silence opponents, has generated strong protests in the country's streets and a standoff between the country's President, Salome Zurabishvili, and the ruling party, the Georgian Dream.

The political situation in Venezuela and the entrenchment of the regime led by Nicolás Maduro will also deserve the attention of the ministers.

The meeting precedes the 8th Brussels Conference on "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region".

Read Also: For Borrell, recognition of Palestine is not a gift for Hamas (Portuguese version)