The Lebanese diplomatic corps saw the failure of the campaign it had launched at the European Union to defend Hezbollah and prevent the blacklisting of the party's "military wing." All what this campaign succeeded to do was to reveal the extent of Hezbollah's control over the Lebanese cabinet and how dependent the Lebanese decision making process is on this control, even when it comes to accusing the party of acts deemed to be ones of terror by the Europeans on the territories of Bulgaria and Cyprus , two non-hostile countries to Lebanon. The European resolution that received an unprecedented consensus did not slam Hezbollah over actions carried in the framework of the resistance to the Israeli occupation, which was the reason for establishing the party in the first place. The Europeans have also so far abstained from charging Hezbollah over the decision of the special tribunal for Lebanon to summon four Hezbollah members for investigation in the crime of the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik al-Hariri. The European decision was rather based on proofs presented by the concerned cabinets and obtained following the investigations into the attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in addition to plotting to carry out similar attacks in Cyprus as per the confessions of a Hezbollah member. In other words, the decision was based on the right of the European countries to protect their lands, sovereignty, and residents, and did not target Hezbollah's religious identity or its right to carry out anti-Israeli actions from Lebanon. Furthermore, the decision did not allude to the party's military intervention in the Syrian war, considering that this has nothing to do with the protection of the European interests. Surprisingly, as he was defending Hezbollah, Minister Adnan Mansour failed to allude to the aspect that constituted the basis for the European decision, i.e. the party's involvement in illegal actions, to say the least, from a European perspective. Mansour focused on the fact that Hezbollah "is a main constituent in the country" and added that it's hard "to make a distinction between the party's military and political wings." Oddly, these two arguments do not serve the party. They can rather be used to politically convict the Lebanese government, which is covering up on the party's actions. The difficulty to make a distinction between the party's "political" and "military" actions, as per Mansour's confession, means that all the party's members are guilty, including those members that represent Hezbollah within the Lebanese cabinet or the officials responsible for the external relations who hold regular meetings with the EU representatives in Beirut. As for saying that Hezbollah is a main constituent in the country, this aims at referring to the party's power within the domestic political equation. Indeed, Hezbollah has full control over the decision making process within the Shiite sect. Thus, this entire sect (which constitutes an essential part of the Lebanese social structure) is now a suspect as a result of being forced to sympathize with Hezbollah. This might expose all the Shiites residing in European countries to investigations and restrictions against the transfer of funds to their families in Lebanon. This could also constitute a reason for increasing the complications facing these individuals when applying for visas and residencies in the EU countries. It wasn't easy for the European governments to take this decision in Brussels yesterday. Everyone knows that major differences occurred within the EU before taking this consensus-requiring decision. Britain and Holland were among the main countries calling for taking this decision against Hezbollah; and the judiciary and security-related proofs presented by Bulgaria and Cyprus succeeded in convincing the hesitant parties. Although the Europeans are saying that this decision will not affect their historically good relations with Lebanon, the implementation of this decision and the potential subsequent prosecutions against Hezbollah members or affiliates will negatively affect the European-Lebanese relations, especially that the Lebanese political decisions are now entirely monopolized by Hezbollah and only serve its interests.
