EU Parliament Targets Muslim Brotherhood Funding Networks

The European Parliament passed a resolution demanding audits of EU funding linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, directing the European Commission to trace money flowing to organizations suspected of ties to political Islam. The vote orders the European Council to assess whether affiliated entities belong on the EU terrorist list.

Unlike the Trump administration’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and four branches as terrorist organizations, the European approach targets financial infrastructure. No organization in Europe operates under the Muslim Brotherhood name. Security services instead track overlapping networks that receive public grants while advancing parallel agendas.

French MEP Céline Imart sponsored the text. She called it “a historic victory because it is a European first” in tackling what the resolution terms Islamist entryism. Imart posted on X that she had “broken a taboo that Europe has been dragging around like a chain.” She thanked negotiators from allied groups but excluded socialists and the far left, who boycotted the text.

Lorenzo Vidino, director of the program on extremism at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital that French and Austrian governments have pushed for this type of action for almost a decade. He noted the vote reflects a gap between the right and the left. The center-right European People’s Party, or EPP, led the resolution. Right-wing lawmakers voted almost entirely in favor. A large portion of the left voted against it.

The resolution demands full traceability of EU funding. It asks the European Commission to compile an overview of funds awarded to people or entities with suspected links to the Muslim Brotherhood. It also calls for stronger scrutiny of foreign funding, specifically naming actors linked to Qatar and Turkey, and greater use of Schengen tools and EU databases. Member states are encouraged to draw up national lists of hate preachers, with a push for a consolidated list at the EU level.

A press release on the European Parliament’s news website stated that anti-discrimination policies must not shield Islam from criticism or legitimize organized Islamist networks. It warned against treating those networks as representative interlocutors for Muslim citizens.

ENAR, a pan-European anti-racism network named in the resolution alongside member group FEMYSO, released a statement condemning the vote. ENAR said the resolution casts Muslim-led civil society as inherently suspect through sham allegations seeking to associate its network with the Muslim Brotherhood. The group called the passage a stain on the European Parliament.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former UK ambassador to Yemen, told Fox News Digital that converting the resolution into binding legislation will be difficult. He argued Europe regularly imagines non-violent Islamism conflicts with violent terrorism, when it actually creates the climate for it.

Vidino expressed skepticism about tangible impact. He told Fox News Digital that Islamist groups camouflage their activities effectively. When funding is pulled, they fight back by leveraging crises and playing the victim card. Still, he said the resolution sets the tone and gives a political push that might make agencies feel more legitimized in viewing the networks negatively.

Imart said the Commission and the Council must now take action, adding that she intends to ensure they do.