EU to Decide on Blacklisting Hezbollah by End-2013, Italy Says

The July 2012 bus bombing at the Sarafovo Airport in Burgas killed seven, including five Israeli tourists, the Bulgarian bus driver and the alleged suicide bomber. Photo by BGNES

EU is to make a decision in late 2013 on whether to include Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations, according to Italy’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Development and Cooperation Lapo Pistelli.

The Italian official told Lebanese paper The Daily Star that a European decision on blacklisting Hezbollah will not take place for “at least five [or] six months.”

“At the preliminary discussion in Brussels [earlier this month] there were some arguments raised by the Bulgarian government and the Cypriots about the proofs and evidences [pertaining to] blacklisting the organization...so it seems to me this decision will require time,” he told the Star.

The Jerusalem Post says Pistelli’s timeline about a possible ban against Hezbollah confirms a statement made by a source who is well-versed in the EU debate on outlawing Hezbollah’s military wing.

The source told The Jerusalem Post that an EU decision is likely to take place in November or December.

It was reported last week that Bulgaria had presented previously undisclosed evidence linking Hezbollah to last year’s terror attack in Burgas.

In February 2013, Bulgaria’s then-Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov suggested that the evidence collected by the investigating authorities led to a "reasonable assumption" about the involvement of the Lebanese militant group in the terror attack at the Burgas airport.
Bulgaria’s new Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin recently refuted reports that the country was trying to shift blame for the Burgas terror attack from Hezbollah.

Vigenin said on June 5 that "the evidence is not categorical" that Hezbollah planned the attack. International media then commented that the Balkan country had “backed away from charges” that the Shi'ite Muslim militant group had carried out the attack.

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