EU Still Deadlocked on Blacklisting Hizbullah
European Union nations failed to come to a decision to add the military wing of Hizbullah to the bloc's list of international terrorist groups despite fresh talks on the issue, diplomatic sources told Agence France Presse on Thursday.
At a meeting called on Wednesday at Britain's behest, the second this month, experts from the 27-nation bloc failed to reach a unanimous decision to blacklist the group, the sources said.
Diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said Austria and the Czech Republic opposed the move to add Hizbullah to the dozen people and score of groups currently on the EU terrorist list -- including Hamas and Colombia's FARC guerrillas -- who are subject to an asset freeze.
Concerns over Hizbullah have mounted in Europe since an attack last year on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria which Sofia blamed on the party. In March, a Cyprus court sentenced a Hizbullah member to four years behind bars for planning attacks there.
Hizbullah has also plunged into the Syrian conflict in recent months, sending fighters to help President Bashar Assad's forces in battles against rebel forces.
After months of hesitation, EU counter-terror specialists first met on the issue on June 4 but failed to reach unanimity on blacklisting Hizbullah after objections from several countries.
France, Germany and the Netherlands have backed Britain in seeking to add Hizbullah to the list.
But EU diplomats said opponents fear such a move could destabilize politically fragile Lebanon.
The closed-door talks took place within a committee known as CP931 after the EU's "common position" 931, setting up the bloc's terrorist blacklist. It meets regularly to oversee the EU list.
Hizbullah has been on a U.S. terror blacklist since 1995 after a series of anti-American attacks, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut in the 1980s.
In Europe, Britain already has Hizbullah's military wing on its terror list, while the Netherlands blacklists the whole organization.
Source: Agence France Presse
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