Malta may block EU’s plan to blacklist Hezbollah wing

A proposal by the EU to add the military wing of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite group, to its list of terrorist organisations may be blocked by Malta during a meeting of EU foreign ministers tomorrow. Sources in Brussels told The Sunday Times of Malta that during technical meetings held in preparation for the meeting, Malta was reluctant to back the majority of EU member states, including the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. The sources said apart from Malta, Ireland and the Czech Republic are expressing reservations on the proposal as they fear that blacklisting Hezbollah might further destabilise the region’s political situation. Sources said Malta’s stance has nothing to do with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s recent threat to use its EU veto sporadically to force member states help Malta on irregular migration. Dr Muscat had warned that he was prepared to block major unrelated EU initiatives if the country is not provided with concrete assistance. A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Malta is not comfortable with the blacklisting proposal. “Certain issues, especially the feasibility of this measure and modalities of its implementation have not been adequately...