In what was essentially a dare to the European Union, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that the militant Shiite Muslim organisation would demand to be included in any new Lebanese government, despite the EU's designation earlier this week of Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organisation.

In a televised speech, Sheikh Nasrallah also mocked the EU's careful distinction between Hezbollah's military and political wings, both of which he leads.

''A government without Hezbollah will never be formed,'' he said. ''Just as a joke, I propose that our ministers in the next government be from the military wing of Hezbollah.''

Lebanon has a caretaker government after the resignation earlier this year of prime minister Najib Miqati. Another Lebanese politician, Tammam Salam, has been designated prime minister and is trying to form a new cabinet.

The EU's designation of Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organisation was hailed by the US and Israel as a step towards isolating the organisation, Lebanon's most powerful political group.

Under the European action on Monday, EU diplomats are prohibited from talking to officials from Hezbollah's military wing, and the group is prohibited from maintaining offices and raising funds in Europe.

The decision came after heavy pressure from the US and Israel in the wake of last year's bombing of an Israeli tour group in Bulgaria that both Israeli and Bulgarian authorities have blamed on Hezbollah terrorists.

But with several EU members having troops in southern Lebanon as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force, no EU member appears willing to cut off communication with the group completely.