The European Parliament approved a resolution on Thursday for the European Union to include entities and people linked to the Muslim Brotherhood on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.
The matter now goes to the European Council, which determines EU political issues.
The resolution calls on European Union member states to develop a joint strategy to counter what it describes as “Islamist infiltration and Muslim Brotherhood networks”, 381-167. There were 15 abstentions.
It also urges EU member states to develop a common approach to identify signs of Islamist infiltration – including “double messaging,” in which terror sympathisers speak moderately in political contexts and radically in mosques – and to support Muslims who publicly back democracy and freedom of conscience.
The European People’s Party, the Parliament’s largest political group, drafted the resolution.
The European Conservatives and Reformists, known as the ECR Group, had also been pushing for the vote.
It urged the EU to cut off access to public funding to Islamic fundamentalists and increase scrutiny of civil society and youth organisations that may come under the influence of those who support terror.
Left-wing groups voted against the resolution, which they opposed from the outset.
The vote followed a debate on Wednesday about “countering Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network,” which addressed the “need for an EU strategy to protect the European way of life,” according to organisers.
Organisers framed the issue as “a calculated strategy of infiltration in public institutions and civil society, pursuing a fundamentalist agenda that claims adherence to democratic values while working to undermine them.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated several branches and chapters associated with the Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as terror organizations.
Qatar and Turkey, two allies close to Trump and hubs of Brotherhood activity, have thus far been spared.
There is currently no unified stance among EU member states on how to handle the Brotherhood.
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