March 28, 2013

(JTA) — Bulgaria will provide further evidence to persuade the European Union to designate Hezbollah’s armed wing as a terrorist entity, the country’s premier said.

Some E.U. countries were “not sufficiently convinced” by Bulgaria’s evidence of Hezbollah’s involvement in a suicide bombing last year that killed five Israeli tourists and a bus drive, Marin Raikov, Bulgaria’s interim prime minister, said in Brussels on Wednesday.

“We will continue the investigation,” he said. “We will continue to work on this very seriously, very actively. We will provide the needed evidence.”

Raikov also said his country would not request the classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. “It’s not for Bulgaria to initiate the technical procedure for the listing. I think that our partners will be able to do this once they reach a certain level of consensus on this issue,” he said.

Bulgaria accused the Lebanese militant movement on Feb. 5 of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed the Israelis and their Bulgarian driver last July. 

This led the E.U. to consider putting the group on its list of terrorist organizations and discussions are now underway about whether to do so.

Many European governments are cautious about imposing sanctions on Hezbollah, arguing it could fuel tensions in the Middle East. Some have demanded evidence that withstands a trial.

A number of European diplomats have said that the conviction in Cyprus last week of a Hezbollah operative charged with plotting attacks on Israeli tourist targets, combined with the Bulgaria findings, has increased the likelihood of a designation.

The Netherlands is the only E.U. member state to officially consider the South Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah movement and militia terrorist entities, as do Israel, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Britain considers only the group’s military wing a terrorist entity. 

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