Germany and France have signaled that they will support a British proposal to put the military wing of the Lebanese group Hezbollah on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius confirmed that Paris, which has traditionally been cautious about backing steps to sanction Hezbollah, will back the UK government’s motion in Brussels.
London said on Tuesday that it had asked the EU to put Hezbollah's military arm on the terror list, citing evidence of the Islamist group's involvement in an attack that killed five Israelis.
Fabius said at a Friends of Syria conference in Amman on Wednesday: "Given the decisions that Hezbollah has taken and the fact that it has fought extremely hard against the Syrian population, I confirm that France will propose to place Hezbollah's military wing on the list of terrorist organizations.” A diplomat in Paris confirmed Fabius' statement on Thursday.
Meanwhile, German diplomats said Berlin would also support Britain's request, which will be discussed in early June by a special EU working group. “Germany is in favor of the European Union listing at least the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said, according to the 'Times of Israel'. ”This German position is based on an increasingly clearer picture of the facts and on the progress achieved by Cypriot authorities in analyzing terrorist activities. Since the terrible terror attack in Burgas [in Bulgaria] in July 2012, we’ve been conducting intensive talks with our partners. I hope that the necessary consultations within the EU can be concluded rapidly," Westerwelle added.
Until this week, Berlin was hesitant to openly endorse calls to blacklist Hezbollah, arguing that it had not seen enough evidence of the group’s involvement in terrorist activity on European soil.
The World Jewish Congress and other Jewish organizations have lobbied EU governments in recent months to include Hezbollah on the EU’s list of terrorist organizations. In February, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder wrote to all 27 EU heads of governments, urging them to blacklist Hezbollah in order to dry out its sources of funding in Europe.
