German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, talks with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite, left, as they walk away after a group photo was taken during an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Leaders from the 27 European Union countries gather in Brussels for one of their regular European Council sessions. On the agenda is the increasingly controversial subject of tax evasion. Countries such as Austria and Luxembourg which have lucrative, and somewhat opaque, banking systems have begun to fight back against efforts to improve the transparency of the EU's financial system.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, talks with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite, left, as they walk away after a group photo was taken during an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Leaders from the 27 European Union countries gather in Brussels for one of their regular European Council sessions. On the agenda is the increasingly controversial subject of tax evasion. Countries such as Austria and Luxembourg which have lucrative, and somewhat opaque, banking systems have begun to fight back against efforts to improve the transparency of the EU's financial system.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media upon arrival at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Leaders from the 27 European Union countries gather in Brussels for one of their regular European Council sessions. On the agenda is the increasingly controversial subject of tax evasion. Countries such as Austria and Luxembourg which have lucrative, and somewhat opaque, banking systems have begun to fight back against efforts to improve the transparency of the EU's financial system.(AP Photo/Ezequiel Scagnetti)
French President Francois Hollande arrives for a group photo during an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Leaders from the 27 European Union countries gather in Brussels for one of their regular European Council sessions. On the agenda is the increasingly controversial subject of tax evasion. Countries such as Austria and Luxembourg which have lucrative, and somewhat opaque, banking systems have begun to fight back against efforts to improve the transparency of the EU's financial system.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union is reassessing whether to declare the Lebanese party Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization, a move it has long shied away from despite pressure from the United States, officials said Wednesday.
The move is specifically bolstered by Germany's change of heart on the issue after long resisting calls to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization for fear it could destabilize Lebanon and the greater region around it.
Any change in EU policy on Hezbollah would need unanimity among the 27 EU member nations and has so far been impossible to achieve. Adding the military wing to the EU's terror list would slap sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes on the group's members and severely hamper its operations in the EU.
During an EU summit in Brussels, British officials said London had launched a bid for the change, which is fueled by indications the organization was responsible for a terrorist bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian last year. Bulgaria has accused Hezbollah of the attack, a charge the Shiite group denies.
"We firmly believe that an appropriate EU response would be to designate Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization," said a British official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Hezbollah's links to the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad have also increasingly raised concern. The EU is strongly opposed to the Syrian leader and is considering next week whether to end an arms embargo to boost the opposition.
Hezbollah's growing role in the Syrian conflict was highlighted recently when 31 of its elite fighters were killed and 70 others were wounded in the battle for the Syrian town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon.
The United States has had Hezbollah on its terror list since October 1997.
Germany said Wednesday that its position had changed due to new and clearer information about the Lebanese militant Shiite organization's activities and analysis provided by Cypriot authorities.
In March, a Cyprus criminal court found a Hezbollah member guilty of helping to plan attacks on Israelis on the Mediterranean Island.
"We've come to the conclusion that the facts are such that a successful listing might be possible," said German foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke.
He said such a move "received a fresh boost after the attack in Burgas, in Bulgaria. There has been a significant increase in knowledge about this whole complex recently."
Any EU change in policy would be discussed officially within the next two weeks.
One problem, however, might result from the overlap of people involved in both Hezbollah's activities as a legitimate Lebanese political party and the group's armed wing, a diplomat from a major EU country said in Brussels.
Some countries would therefore prefer to sanction specific individuals instead of the entire military wing, the person added.
Action on Hezbollah is further complicated by its pivotal role in Lebanese politics, where the Iranian-backed group has dominated the government since 2011.
In March, Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned over a political deadlock between the two main political camps ? the Western-backed March 14 coalition and the pro-Syrian March 8 movement led by Hezbollah. Mikati's departure plunged Lebanon into uncertainty amid heightened sectarian clashes.
France, a key EU player on foreign affairs, and several other EU nations have United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where the Shia group enjoys wide support. German troops patrol off southern Lebanon's coast to enforce a weapons embargo.
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Associated Press writers Paisley Dodds in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Jamey Keaten in Paris and Barbara Surk in Beirut contributed to this story.
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