Members of Congress Applaud EU Designation of Hezbollah

Press Release

Today 49 members of Congress wrote to Baroness Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union, to thank the European Union (EU) for designating Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization. Led by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Rep. Ted Deutch and Rep. Mike Kelly, the bipartisan letter also urges the EU to take the next step and designate the whole organization, not just the military wing.

"The EU's recent decision to designate Hezbollah's military wing is an important step," said Rep. Waxman. "Hezbollah should not be able to use Europe for a weapons spree or as a fundraising base. I hope that the EU is able to build further momentum to designate the full organization so that there is no daylight between the US and the EU when it comes to fighting this shared threat."

"The European Union's decision to designate Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization is encouraging," said Rep. Bilirakis. "This designation will make it more difficult for Hezbollah to raise money to fund its terrorist activities and will hopefully weaken the organization's support and eventually render it obsolete. While I continue to call on members of the EU to designate the entire Hezbollah operation as a terrorist organization, I applaud them for taking this important step in the fight against terrorism."

"By designating Hezbollah's military arm as a terrorist organization, the European Union took a major step toward preventing future acts of terorrism around the world," said Rep. Deutch. "While we welcome this important step, we urge our allies in Europe to take the same action against Hezbollah's political wing, which continues to help finance its network of terror. Designating the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization will further restrict its ability to launch future terrorist attacks and ensure the United States and the European Union stand united against this global threat."

Hezbollah has a long and deadly history of operating in Europe to finance, plan, recruit, and carry out terrorist plots. A recent Bulgarian investigation concluded that Hezbollah was responsible for the 2012 bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed six people. A Cypriot court recently convicted a Hezbollah man of planning a terrorist attack in Cyprus.

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