European Parliament calls for unified strategy against Muslim Brotherhood’s influence

The Muslim Brotherhood organisation pursues a long-term strategy aimed at radically transforming societies by exploiting existing political and social structures, with a particular focus on European societies.

In recent years, Europe has witnessed intensive political and social activity by certain groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. This activity is no longer confined to traditional preaching or direct party-based engagement, but has increasingly relied on strategies of soft infiltration that combine civil society work, charitable associations, educational institutions and cultural activities.

The organisation is infiltrating European societies by taking advantage of the difficulty of distinguishing between legitimate civil society activities and activities concealing hidden organisational objectives. This has enabled it to build networks of civil institutions capable of gradually expanding their reach among members of society.

While the world has come to recognise the danger posed by this organisation, the European Parliament voted on 8 October 2026 in favour of a resolution calling for a unified European strategy to address the networks of the “Muslim Brotherhood” and their influence. The move brings the question of placing the group and entities linked to it on the European terrorist list before EU institutions.

The resolution secured 381 votes in favour and 167 against, with 15 members abstaining, according to the voting results on the resolution concerning the establishment of a European strategy to address the Muslim Brotherhood network and its influence.

It calls for an assessment of the possibility of listing entities and individuals linked to the Muslim Brotherhood on the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations, alongside measures concerning funding and cooperation among member states to counter the activities of networks associated with the group.

Sustained pressure

This move came after the French National Assembly adopted a resolution on 22 January 2026 calling for the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood and its leaders on the European Union’s list of terrorist organisations, bringing the issue directly before European institutions. It followed the adoption in January by the Assembly’s Committee on European Affairs of a recommendation calling for the group to be placed on the European list.

The resolution is expected to move the issue beyond fragmented national debates towards a common European approach encompassing funding, transparency and institutional relations, as well as an assessment of the possibility of placing entities or individuals linked to the Brotherhood on the European terrorist list. This follows the expansion of debate in several European countries over the relationship between political Islam and civil society activity.

In May 2025, the French government issued an official report warning that the Muslim Brotherhood posed a threat to social cohesion and the unity of the French Republic. The report noted that the group pursued a long-term strategy through which it concealed its true intentions to infiltrate key sectors of society and state institutions from within through what is known as “soft jihad”.

The report exposed a broad network of institutions linked to the group, amid concerns over the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric under the guise of combating political Islam. It meticulously documented the ways in which the Muslim Brotherhood had penetrated French society over several decades, pointing to a “genuine mechanism” employed by the group that relies on multiple methods, including “re-Islamisation”, “separatism” and “subversion”, with the aim of destabilising the Republic.

It noted that around 140 places of worship in France were linked to the group, in addition to 68 other sites classified as close to it. It also recorded the existence of 280 associations linked to the Brotherhood, operating across various fields, including religion, education, charity, youth and the professional sector.

Infiltration strategy

According to European intelligence reports, the Muslim Brotherhood organisation has succeeded in penetrating European societies by taking control of central Islamic councils as part of a long-term strategy.

The group presents itself as a moderate movement defending the rights of Muslim minorities, while in reality employing “soft methods” to infiltrate democratic systems with the aim of dismantling them at a later stage, according to reports.

In an in-depth analysis published by the Spanish newspaper La Razón, journalist J. M. Zuloaga warned that Spain was not immune to this danger, stressing that the Brotherhood represented a “hidden threat” no less dangerous than ISIS, despite the differences in their methods. He cautioned that the Brotherhood shared with terrorist groups the goal of establishing an exclusionary “global caliphate”.

He pointed out that the difficulty of combating the organisation in Spain lay in the fact that it did not operate under the name of an official organisation, but through companies and associations whose links to the group’s leadership structure were difficult to prove, complicating efforts to pursue them through the courts.

In the Netherlands, parliament approved a motion in March 2026 calling for a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood and organisations affiliated with it. Shannon Seban, Director of European Affairs at an organisation combating antisemitism, said the vote in the Dutch House of Representatives reflected “growing recognition across Europe that ideological networks linked to extremism can pose long-term risks to democratic institutions”.

She noted that the Dutch government was now facing a critical test, stating: “This motion must be followed by concrete legal measures. Addressing these challenges requires clarity and a willingness to act within the rule of law.”

Urgent measures

European Parliament member Gerolf Annemans, treasurer of the Patriots for Europe group, said that “the West needs to deal seriously and vigilantly with attempts to infiltrate its institutions and civil society”, warning against the exploitation of public funding to influence public life and penetrate institutions.

In remarks made during a televised interview, he stressed that the issue was not limited to designating potential terrorist organisations, but extended to what he described as a broader danger represented by infiltration within society itself. He noted that “this danger is now being raised directly as a challenge that requires confrontation and serious action”.

These concerns come amid significant fears of systematic infiltration led by the group into key sectors of European society, exploiting the spaces afforded by civil and legal activities to reshape its influence from within rather than through confrontation.

In its recently adopted resolution, the European Parliament calls for tracing the flow of European funds granted to Islamic entities and halting their funding. It also demands the permanent exclusion from European institutions of FEMYSO, the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations, on the grounds that it is considered close to the “Muslim Brotherhood”.

Nicolas Bay, also a member of the European Parliament, previously affirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood was “an extremist Islamic organisation seeking to overturn Europe by infiltrating Western societies to spread Islam and pursue the establishment of a state that implements Islamic Sharia law”.

* Bayethe Msimang is an independent writer, analyst and political commentator.

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.