EU decision listing Hezbollah military wing as terrorist organisation to be gazetted on July 26
The legal acts of the EU’s decision to add the military wing of Hezbollah to the EU “list of entities, groups and persons involved in terrorist acts” have been adopted by written procedure and were to be published on July 26 2013 in the EU Official Journal, the European Jewish Press reports.
The decision to blacklist the Shiite Lebanese group was taken unanimously on July 22 at a meeting of the 28 EU foreign ministers in Brussels on ground of evidences of the Lebanese group’s terror activities on European soil, including the Bourgas bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver in July 2012 and the conviction by a Cyprus criminal court of a Hezbollah member for planning attacks against Israelis on the island.
The EU Council also approved at the same time a statement underlining that this decision “does not prevent the continuation of a dialogue with all political parties in Lebanon”.
According to a report in the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper, the EU representative in Lebanon was due to meet with an Hezbollah official on July 24. Angelina Eichhorst met on July 23 with Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati and was quoted as saying that “dialogue continues between the EU and all Lebanese political parties, including Hezbollah”. Hezbollah itself doesn’t make a distinction between its political and military wings.
The EU Council and the EU Commission agree that the listing decision does not affect legitimate financial transfers to Lebanon and the delivery of assistance, including humanitarian assistance, from the European Union and its Member States in Lebanon.
“The Union remains fully committed to the stability of Lebanon,” the statement said.
The 2001 EU Council Common Position “on the application of spectific measures to combat terrorism” says that entities on the EU terrorist list are targeted with an asset freeze and subject to enhanced police and judicial co-operation between member states in related enquiries and proceedings.
In the EU document, the ‘terrorist group’’ is defined as ‘’a group of more than two persons, established over a period of time and acting in concert to commit trerrorist acts .’’
The EU list of terrorist groups and entities also includes Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassem, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Real IRA.
The EU decision will be reviewed on a six-monthly basis, the EU statement said.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel will begin providing EU law enforcement officials with intelligence material sot hey can enforce the decision. Law enforcement authorities, homeland security officials and intelligence agencies in the 28 member statezs will need a plethora of information to make sure that Hezbollah’s military wing does not continue to operate on the European soil.
