Slovenian President Borut Pahor's office said he would only back the recognition of a Palestinian state "in circumstances that would contribute to the solution of its bilateral issues with Israel but not to the worsening of relations"

Slovenia's president cast doubt on Friday on his country recognising Palestine as a state in the near future, days after the foreign minister had talked up the chances of such a move.

President Borut Pahor's office said in a statement to AFP that he would only back the recognition of a Palestinian state "in circumstances that would contribute to the solution of its bilateral issues with Israel but not to the worsening of relations".

But the statement added that for the moment, "those circumstances (contributing to a solution) are not in place".

Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec had said on Monday he hoped Slovenia would officially recognise a state of Palestine in March or April and that this would "strengthen Palestine's negotiation in the Middle East peace process".

Slovenia would be only the second of the EU's 28 member states to recognise Palestine while a member of the EU. Sweden did so in 2014.

Eight other countries took the step before entering the EU: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta and Cyprus.