Spain: EU to normalize relations with Honduras if Zelaya leaves

Jan 27, 2010, 13:44 GMT

Madrid - The European Union will 'fully normalize' its relations with Honduras if president-elect Porfirio Lobo keeps his promises, including that of allowing toppled president Manuel Zelaya to leave the country, a Spanish senior official said Wednesday.

Spain will hold the rotating European Union presidency until June 30.

Honduras was in an 'abnormal' situation which needed to be 'corrected,' said Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, secretary of state for Ibero-American affairs.

Toppled in a June coup, Zelaya has been staying in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since returning clandestinely to Honduras in September.

Lobo was due to be sworn in Wednesday following the November 29 presidential election which was not recognized by a large part of the international community.

'With the honouring of engagements that Lobo has made, a full normalization of relations will take place, and the return of the ambassadors' to the Central American country, de Laiglesia said in a reference to EU and Latin American ambassadors.

Zelaya wanted to leave for the Dominican Republic in order to then travel on to another country, de Laiglesia said.

The secretary of state denied that Zelaya had sought political asylum in Spain, saying he was likelier to settle in a Latin American country.

Spain was not sending a high-level representative to Lobo's swearing-in ceremony, de Laiglesia said.