EU Council Counter-Terrorism Cell Likely to Hold Hezbollah Meeting

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | February 6, 2013, Wednesday // 13:30
Bulgaria: EU Council Counter-Terrorism Cell Likely to Hold Hezbollah Meeting The bombing at the Burgas airport killed 5 Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver and the perpetrator of the attack. Photo by BGNES

An EU Council cell specialising in counter-terrorism - the CP931 group - is likely to hold an extraordinary meeting with Bulgarian experts in the next few days or weeks, according to EUobserver.

The meeting will be prompted by Tuesday's Bulgarian report stating that Lebanese organization Hezbollah may have been involved in last year's Burgas bus bombing

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov stated Tuesday that Bulgarian investigators had "a well-founded assumption" that the perpetrators of the deadly attack belonged to the military formation of Hezbollah.

The Bulgarian findings are said to be raising the pressure on the EU to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group, something that many of its members have been reluctant to do despite calls from the United States and Israel.

EUobserver has reminded that any decision to list Hezbollah would be taken by EU foreign ministers, following political dsicussions on its implications for EU foreign policy by EU diplomats in the so-called Coreper, MaMa and Relex Council units.

Some member states, such as the UK, already make a legal distinction between the political and military branches of Hezbollah. Others, such as France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, are reluctant to list it in case the move further destabilises the fragmented and war-scarred country, as well as the wider region.

EU's top counter-terrorism official, Gilles de Kerchove, recently noted that the bloc may refuse to include Hezbollah in its blacklist even if the organization was proven to be responsible for last year's terror attack in Bulgaria.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Bulgaria in EU » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Burgas bus bombing, Burgas, bomb, Israeli tourists, Hezbollah, terror attackр eu

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria