EU to appeal Hamas removal from terror blacklist

The EU will appeal a December court decision ordering the removal of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from the bloc's terrorism blacklist, foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday.
She said foreign ministers from the 28 European Union member states decided to appeal the decision at a meeting in Brussels on Monday which is more widely focused on the Islamist threat after last week's Paris attacks.
"This ruling was clearly based on procedural grounds and did not imply any assessment by the court of the merits of designating the Hamas as a terrorist organisation," Mogherini said in a statement.
The ministers have "now decided to challenge some of the findings of the court regarding the procedural grounds to list terrorist organizations," she said.
Last month's ruling by the EU's second highest court, the General Court of the European Union, had said that the blacklisting of  in 2001 was based not on sound legal judgements but on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet.
Hamas, which has been in power in the Palestinian territory of Gaza since 2007, had appealed against its inclusion on the blacklist on several grounds.
In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP that the decision to appeal "is an immoral step, and reflects the EU's total bias in favour of the Israeli occupation."
- Mideast tensions -
Hamas's military wing was added to the European Union's first-ever terrorism blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The EU blacklisted the political wing of Hamas in 2003.
The EU court based in Luxembourg said last month that the freeze on Hamas's funds will also temporarily remain in place for three months pending any appeal by the EU.
The Hamas ruling had threatened recent Brussels attempts to play a bigger role in reviving the moribund Middle East peace process, with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Europeans had learned nothing from the Holocaust.
A vote by the European Parliament backing the recognition in principle of a Palestinian state just hours after the Hamas decision, following a series of such votes in European nations, added fuel to the fire.
In her statement on Monday, Mogherini said "as a result of the appeal, the effects of the judgement are suspended until the Court of Justice" issues a final ruling.
Apart from Hamas, the EU has also blacklisted the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has ties to Hamas.
"The fight against terrorism remains a priority for the European Union," Mogherini said, adding the the "EU is determined to stem the financing of terrorism" through tools at its disposal.
An expert on EU law said that an appeal takes 16 months once one is filed.
Mogherini said EU institutions were also studying "actions that may be taken" to avoid further legal challenges to its blacklists.
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers were removed from the list in October after an almost identical judgement.
Source: AFP