BRUSSELS |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union governments could decide to blacklist the military wing of Hezbollah on Monday, in a policy reversal fuelled by concerns over the Lebanese militant movement’s activities in Europe, senior EU diplomats said.
Britain has sought to persuade its EU peers since May to put the Shi’ite Muslim group’s military wing on the bloc’s terrorism list, citing evidence that it was behind a bus bombing in Bulgaria last year which killed five Israelis and their driver.
Until now, the EU has resisted pressure from Washington and Israel to blacklist Hezbollah, arguing such a move could fuel instability in Lebanon, where the group is part of the government, and add to tensions in the Middle East.
A senior EU official said on Friday opposition to the blacklisting was “slowly diminishing”.
Britain’s William Hague said a “great majority” of EU capitals supported the move, due to be debated at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
“When a terrorist attack takes place on European soil, there have to be consequences. Europe has to recognize that and face up to that,” Hague told reporters ahead of the meeting.
Blacklisting the military wing would mean the freezing of any assets it may hold in the 28-nation bloc, though officials say there is scant information on the extent of Hezbollah’s presence in Europe or on its assets.
Britain, backed by France and the Netherlands among others, has argued that Hezbollah’s growing involvement in the Syrian war means Lebanon is already in a fragile situation and that the EU must weigh the possibility of future attacks in Europe.
REASSURANCES
To soothe worries that sanctions against Hezbollah could complicate the EU’s relations with the Lebanese government, EU governments are also likely to issue a statement pledging to continue dialogue with all political groups in the country.
“A few member states wanted to be reassured that such a decision will not in any way jeopardize political dialogue,” a senior EU official said.
Some EU diplomats, responding to concerns that sanctions could further radicalize the group, have argued that targeting the military wing could, in the long term, persuade some of its members to move away from violence into the political sphere.
Hezbollah denies any involvement in last July’s attack in the Bulgarian coastal resort of Burgas. The Bulgarian interior minister said last week Sofia had no doubt the group was behind it.
“We should name names because time has come to tell the truth,” Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Antanas Linkevi�ius said ahead of Monday’s meeting. Vilnius holds the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2013.
In support of its bid to impose sanctions, Britain has also cited a four-year jail sentence handed down by a Cypriot court in March to a Hezbollah member accused of plotting to attack Israeli interests on the island.
Hezbollah was set up in Damascus by Iran in 1982 with the aim of fighting Israel after its invasion of Lebanon.
In recent months it has entered the Syrian civil war in support of President Bashar al-Assad, a major factor helping Assad to withstand a two-year popular uprising led by the Sunni Muslim majority against his rule.
(Editing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff)
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EU weighs sanctions against military wing of Hezbollah
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