PARIS — A bombshell report from the French authorities alleges that organizations with links to the Muslim Brotherhood have been attempting to influence European Union institutions through “significant lobbying activities.”
A version of the document seen by POLITICO before its official publication says the Islamist group’s supposed ideological allies sought to push Brussels to criminalize blasphemy and promote a “singular” vision of religious freedom that clashes with France’s strict model of a secular state that protects both freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The European Parliament and MEPs were “particularly targeted,” the report said.
The French Ministry of the Interior was expected to release a sanitized version of the document, which would not include the names of sources which could be endangered by its release and mentions of ongoing legal cases, on Wednesday after it was discussed during a national security council meeting Wednesday chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Following the meeting, Macron’s office said the report would be released by the end of the week.
The version of the report seen by POLITICO alleges that the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded more than 100 years ago in Egypt with the aim of creating a state ruled by Islamic law, is pushing its agenda via several pan-European organizations that shares the group’s ideology and have received money from Qatar and Kuwait, states known to fund both Muslim and Islamist causes overseas.
Among the organizations listed were Council of European Muslims (CEM) and the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO). The report claimed that members of the Brotherhood’s inner circle were members of the CEM and the FEMYSO was used as a “training structure” for Muslim Brotherhood officials.
FEMYSO in a statement strongly denied the allegations while CEM did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
The reports’ findings, which are based on dozens of interviews with academics, Muslim leaders and intelligence officers, are similar to those of a government review published in the United Kingdom a decade ago.
The report alleged that the Muslim Brotherhood waged parts of its influence campaign under the guise of combatting Islamophobia, but at times it struggled to tie specific pieces of purported evidence, like an anti-discrimination campaign featuring the slogan “freedom is in hijab,” directly to the group.
France has in recent days gone to great lengths to protect its secular nature. Earlier this week, France’s Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad called for tighter checks on the way the EU allocates grants following allegations that Brussels funded campaigns that did not respect France’s secular values, and purportedly entities linked to Islamist movements.
Macron has tasked his government with proposing measures to fight the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence, which are expected to be discussed next month, the president’s office said Tuesday.
Early version leaked
An early version of the report was leaked to the conservative daily Le Figaro and right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, which one high-ranking member of government, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, attributed to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
Retailleau, who had already had access to the full report due to his role, told reporters earlier this week that the document would demonstrate how “Islamist infiltration is a threat.”
Presidential hopefuls jumped on the leak to put forward their own talking points even before the findings were officially made public. The president of the far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, told France Inter on Wednesday morning that the Muslim Brotherhood poses “one of the most existential challenges facing our country.”
And Gabriel Attal — who briefly served as prime minister last year and now leads the centrist pro-Macron Renaissance party — responded by floating ban on Muslim headscarves for those under 15.
On the left, the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused the government of stoking Islamophobia and “giving credence” to far-right talking points.
“That’s enough! You’re going to destroy the country,” he wrote on X.
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