Strasbourg, 23/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - France will propose including the military wing of Hezbollah on the EU list of terrorist organisations, French Minister for Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius announced during the evening of 22 May - although Paris has until now been rather cautious about this. “Given the decisions that Hezbollah has made and the fact that it has fought the Syrian population very hard, I confirm that France will propose including the military wing of Hezbollah on the EU list of terrorist organisations”, Fabius stated on the sidelines of the Friends of Syria meeting. “There are other elements, too, that concern what happened in Bulgaria (Ed: the attack on a Jewish tourist bus in Burgas in July, for which the Bulgarian authorities say they have proof of Hezbollah's involvement) and other places”, Fabius added. “We believe that it's a point that requires the agreement of all Europeans”, he said.
Earlier in the day, German Minister for Foreign Affairs Guido Westerwelle had announced that Berlin also supports including “at least” the armed wing of Hezbollah on the list. This decision was taken “in the light of discussions with its partners after the Burgas attack”, a German source said, cited by AFP. “We have always said that to include Hezbollah, or parts of Hezbollah, the facts needed to be discussed and assessed. It was a process that was under way that we led with our partners. Now, we have reached the point where we believe that the facts make it possible to include it on the list”, a spokesperson for Westerwelle stated (our translation throughout). On 16 April, the German home affairs minister sent a letter to his Bulgarian and Cypriot counterparts, asking them for evidence proving Hezbollah's terrorist activity on European soil, so as to be able to include it on the EU list (see EUROPE 10842).
The United Kingdom has made a request to include Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organisations (see EUROPE 10849). Revision of the list of terrorist organisations, which takes place every six months, will begin at the start of June. (CG/transl.fl)