EU to appeal ruling that Hamas should be off terror list

The European Union said on Monday it would appeal against a court ruling that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas should be removed from the bloc's terrorist list.

Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement that the EU had decided to challenge last month's decision by the EU's General Court, the bloc's second-highest tribunal, which she said had been made on procedural grounds.

As a result of the appeal, Hamas will remain on the EU's terrorism list and its assets will remain frozen for now, pending a final judgment by the European Court of Justice.

An EU court ruled last month that Hamas should be removed from the terrorist list, saying the decision to include it was based on media reports not considered analysis.

The EU will challenge the General Court's finding that the EU must provide evidence that Hamas remains a terrorist group when it updates its terror list as well as the argument that the EU cannot use evidence from the Internet, an EU official said.

Mogherini said the EU was also studying "other appropriate remedial actions" it could take to avoid similar court decisions in future removing groups from the terrorism list.

"The fight against terrorism remains a priority for the European Union. In this sense, the EU is determined to stem the financing of terrorism, for which EU autonomous measures are an essential tool," she said.

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