Tuesday

5th Dec 2023

UK makes progress in bid to blacklist Hezbollah

  • Hezbollah poster in eastern Lebanon (Photo: aldask)

New information from Britain on alleged terrorist activity by Hezbollah is likely to gain Austria's support to blacklist the Lebanese group.

Britain earlier this year proposed adding Hezbollah's military wing to the EU terrorist register.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

France, Germany and the Netherlands support the move.

But several countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech republic, Ireland, Malta, Poland and Slovakia, opposed it at a meeting of EU counter-terrorism specialists in June.

A diplomatic source told EUobserver that London, over the past two weeks, circulated fresh evidence which persuaded Vienna to switch sides.

He declined to give details of the new information, citing confidentiality rules.

But he said: "At the end of the day, I think they [the Austrians] will have a deal with the Brits."

The UK still has to convince other sceptics.

A Czech diplomat told EUobserver on Thursday (4 July) that Prague remains opposed because it is impossible, in practical terms, to separate the military and political branches of the group.

If Hezbollah goes on the EU register, it could restrict EU envoys from talking to Hezbollah politicians in the Lebanese government, including on EU aid projects in Hezbollah-run ministries.

Slovakia also remains opposed.

Bratislava believes that former EU listings, for instance of Palestinian group Hamas, have done nothing to advance EU policy in the region.

It is also put off because France, Germany and the UK reportedly keep clandestine contacts with "terrorist" entities, making a mockery of the EU list.

The new momentum in the talks in any case prompted the UK, on Thursday, to ask the European External Action Service (EEAS) to put Hezbollah on the agenda of a foreign ministers' meeting on 22 July.

The EEAS did not immediately say Yes.

But France, Germany and the UK are too big to ignore on foreign policy.

"It’s now the right time for the listing of Hezbollah’s military wing to be discussed at a political level in the EU," another EU diplomat told this website.

"The evidence that Hezbollah’s military wing is a terrorist organisation, and that it committed terrorism on EU soil, is compelling," the source added.

Afghanistan is a 'forever emergency,' says UN head

Afghanistan is a "forever emergency" rendered worse by an isolated country intent on dismantling human rights, says UN refugee agency (UNHCR) representative for the country, Leonard Zulu.

Opinion

Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stands in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians.

Latest News

  1. Afghanistan is a 'forever emergency,' says UN head
  2. EU public procurement reform 'ineffective', find auditors
  3. COP28 warned over-relying on carbon capture costs €27 trillion
  4. Optimising Alzheimer's disease health care pathways across Europe
  5. Georgian far-right leader laughs off potential EU sanctions
  6. The EU's U-turn on caged farm animals — explained
  7. EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK
  8. COP28 debates climate finance amid inflated accounting 'mess'

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us