2nd UPDATE: Spain PM:Stable Honduras Helpful For EU Trade Deal
(Adds comment from Mexican President.)
ESTORIL, Portugal -(Dow Jones)- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero Monday said democratic stability in Honduras would help to conclude
talks for a trade deal between Central America and the European Union.
Later, Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said his country
doesn't recognize elections held Sunday in Honduras.
"The Spanish government doesn't recognize the elections, but it doesn't ignore
them either," Moratinos said at a press conference during the Iberoamerican
summit that started here Sunday and ends Tuesday.
During a breakfast in Estoril with presidents from Central America, Zapatero
stressed all involved parties need to reach an agreement to reinstate democratic
order.
"The institutional breakdown now has other protagonists," Zapatero said during
the meeting, according to a spokeswoman of the Spanish prime minister's office.
Conservative Porfirio Lobo has claimed victory in Sunday's poll in Honduras,
the first presidential election in the Central American nation since the ousting
in June of elected President Manuel Zelaya.
The Spanish prime minister and his foreign minister both said leaders at the
Estoril summit were working to come up with a joint position on the situation in
Honduras.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon during his inaugural speech of the summit
Monday also called for a return to the institutional order in Honduras. He said
Sunday's elections took place without "traditional, institutional international
observers," and therefore it couldn't be said whether the polls were free.
"Six or seven years ago, we had thought democracy had arrived to our peoples,"
Calderon said. "But contrary to what was thought then, democracy didn't come to
stay."
Spain's Moratinos also said Spain has been in contact with Sweden, which is
trying to reach a common European position in the Honduran question. Sweden
currently holds the EU presidency.
Zelaya's foreign minister Patricia Rodas is in Estoril to rally support to
reinstate Zelaya, and was present at the breakfast with Zelaya.
The U.S. has signaled it is likely to recognize the outcome of Sunday's
elections, along with Peru, Panama and Costa Rica, while Brazil and Venezuela
said they won't recognize the poll.
Zapatero Monday also said he would like to use Spain's presidency of the EU in
the first half of 2010 to clinch a trade deal with Central America.
The two regions are already very close on political dialogue, cooperation and
trade issues, Zapatero said.
"We've never been closer to a deal," he said.
The EU and Central America in 2006 launched formal talks to reach a trade
agreement between their regions.
-By Bernd Radowitz, Dow Jones Newswires; +34-618 526 915; bernd.radowitz@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-30-091235ET
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