Time for Europe To Stop Funding Islamist Networks

Europe’s Parliament wants to close the public purse to Muslim Brotherhood networks. Its recent vote challenges a funding system that risks subsidizing organizations whose political agenda undermines the democratic freedoms Europe seeks to defend.

Lawmakers voted 381 to 167 on October 8 in favor of a strategy countering Islamist efforts to gain influence inside European institutions. French lawmaker Celine Imart spearheaded the initiative for the European People’s Party, the parliament’s center-right bloc. The nonbinding resolution puts pressure on the European Commission, the European Union’s executive, but cannot itself cancel grants or impose sanctions.

Youth Advocacy Offers Access to European Institutions

Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Brotherhood seeks to organize society, including government, around its interpretation of Islam. Its European infrastructure spans religious associations, charities, and youth organizations. A 2025 French government report identified the Council of European Muslims, founded in 1989 and based in Brussels, as the movement’s European umbrella organization, with a UK-registered charity, Europe Trust, serving as its financial arm and holding some 20 million pounds in property. In France alone, the report linked 139 places of worship, 21 private schools, and some 280 associations to the Brotherhood. It also described efforts to influence European policy, including demands to restrict blasphemy, threatening freedom of expression.

One organization the French report identified is the Brussels-based Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO). Established in 1996, FEMYSO trains young activists and campaigns against anti-Muslim discrimination. The French report described it as the youth branch of the Council of European Muslims, while FEMYSO has rejected the charge that it is linked to the Brotherhood. The report also described how joint events with the Belgian European Network Against Racism (ENAR) help FEMYSO reach European institutions, while explicitly distinguishing ENAR from a formal Brotherhood affiliate.

A 2024 French Senate proposal put EU funding from 2014 to 2023 at 134,279 euros for FEMYSO and 12.4 million euros for ENAR. These historical totals establish the scale of public support, not that all those funds reached Brotherhood activities. The concern is whether public money and institutional access strengthen organizations promoting an Islamist political agenda.

Existing Safeguards Are Poorly Enforced

EU grants require recipients to uphold democracy, equality, and human rights. Yet the European Court of Auditors found in 2025 that fund managers did not proactively check compliance. Existing rules already allow exclusion for serious misconduct, including incitement to hatred or violence, subject to evidence and procedural safeguards. Tracing money through partner organizations is essential: checking the initial recipient alone cannot establish where grants ultimately go.

Washington and Europe Should Exchange Evidence and Expertise

The Departments of State and Treasury should establish a regular exchange with European authorities on suspect funding networks to share legally available evidence on financial flows, leadership, and intermediaries.

The exchange should work both ways: European experience with grant conditions and oversight could inform American efforts, while U.S. financial investigations could help European officials identify recipients requiring closer scrutiny.

U.S. diplomats should encourage the commission to translate that evidence into funding reviews and exclusions where warranted. Terrorist designation is a separate legal question; it should not become a prerequisite for enforcing grant conditions. Cooperation should help each side apply the appropriate tools to documented misconduct, without treating ideological association alone as proof of illegality.

Simone Rodan-Benzaquen is senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Simone and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow Simone on X @srodan. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.