LOC15:26
12:26 GMT
PARIS, Jan 9 (KUNA) -- French officials indicated on Wednesday that there
was no European consensus on denominating the Lebanese group, Hezbollah, as a
"terrorist organisation."
The EU regularly establishes a list of organisations worldwide that it
views as involved in terrorist activity and, for example, has placed the
Palestinian group, Hamas and several groups linked with Al-Qaeda on that list.
Israel has been recently putting pressure on the EU to do the same for
Lebanon's Hezbollah, or Party of God movement, which strongly rebuffed an
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, an achievement that shocked Israel and
surprised many.
"The designation of a terrorist group by the European Union involves that
certain, specific juridical conditions are met," Foreign Ministry spokesman
Philippe Lalliot said in a briefing Wednesday.
Lalliot added that inscribing any group on the "Terrorist List", in line
with policies decided in December 2001, is "notably subject to consensus among
member States."
Media reports here said that France was a leading opponent to putting
Hezbollah on the list, probably for fear of provoking trouble in fragile
Lebanon, given the situation in Syria.
Despite Israeli pressure, all EU nations would not agree to target the
Hezbollah group with restrictive measures that would follow on from the
listing as "terrorist."
"This consensus today has not been reached," Lalliot said of the EU
discussions. (end)
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