EU faces ultimatum on Muslim Brotherhood funding

The National

19-05-2025

France and Austria are to team up against European funding for Islamist extremist groups. Benjamin Haddad, the French Junior Minister for Europe, met Claudia Plakolm, Austria's Minister for Europe, on Monday to forge a common position. Ms Plakolm used a post on X to call for concrete action against hatred and agitation at European level in the fight against extremism. Mr Haddad told the newspaper Le Figaro that the governments would expose organisations "close to radical Islam" that have benefitted from European funding. The document will be presented for adoption across the EU at a meeting next week. It calls for safeguards against European agencies providing funding for groups and people "hostile to European values". Another funding stream in the crosshairs in the briefing was €9.8 million ($11 million) in grants from the European Research Council for an initiative launched in 2019 to create a "European Quran". Also included in the dossier is funding of €18.8m for projects run by Islamic Relief Worldwide. The Austrian minister was also expected to meet the French Interior Minister and new head of the centre-right Les Republicains party Bruno Retailleau. Mr Retailleau told a meeting in London this year an official report had been complied into the 'words of hatred' promoted by Muslim Brotherhood figures such as its late leader, Yusuf Al Qaradawi. 'I will never, ever, confuse Islamic faith with this Islamist hatred that disfigures it,' Mr Retailleau told an audience at the Policy Exchange think tank. 'We stand by this distinction. 'It's classified today and I'll declassify it soon. This is part of the first actions we must do [that will] inform the public, as well as the administration and politicians. We have to have this debate because the Muslim Brotherhood progresses under cover.' Mr Retailleau said the report had raised questions for the ministry on how it would shape the legal framework to intervene and deal with the challenge to France's 'national cohesion'. Mr Haddad's presentation with Ms Plakolm seeks a "filtering procedure" governed by "guidelines" that equips the funders to tackle "abstract concepts, such as 'hostility to European values". The partners want scrutiny of both the applicant entities as well as individuals associated with the operations. This lack of scrutiny has been identified as a weakness by the European Court of Auditors.