Hezbollah flag in Syria. Photo: wiki commons.

Attempts by the European Union (EU) to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization have been stalled as a result of the inability of the 27-member community to reach a consensus on the issue.

Recent efforts to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization come amid reports confirming the involvement of Hezbollah and Iran (Hezbollah’s funder) in the terror attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria—an EU member state—last summer.

The U.S., Canada and Israel consider the Lebanon-based group to be a terrorist organization. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a resolution urging the EU to designate Hezbollah a terror group and to impose sanctions.

But according to the Jerusalem Post, France is blocking the designation in order to preserve its leverage in Lebanon, a former French possession, and to prevent retaliation from Hezbollah.

The stalled measure comes despite Hezbollah’s past terrorist attacks against the French. In 1983, Hezbollah, with Iran’s support, detonated two separate truck bombs outside the American and French military barracks in Beirut, killing 299 American and French servicemen.