European Parliament calls for Muslim Brotherhood to be added to EU terror list

The European Parliament is calling for the Muslim Brotherhood to be added to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations. It has also given the green light to a European strategy aimed at countering the influence of affiliated radical Islamist networks. “At long last, the European Parliament has found the political courage to take on the Muslim Brotherhood. We have repeatedly called for action, and now Parliament is finally listening,” says MEP Assita Kanko.

Kanko firmly rejects accusations from the left that the move amounts to Islamophobia. “The political Islam promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood stands in direct opposition to everything Europe stands for: a democratic society, equal rights for women and men, and a secular society. The Muslim Brotherhood is like a poison that slowly seeps into our societies. It is completely unacceptable that the EU continues to fund organisations linked to this movement.”

A major step forward

Kanko stresses that the decision also marks an important step towards a stronger and more realistic European response to organisations seeking political influence, public funding and access to decision-makers.

“Parliament is not only calling for the Muslim Brotherhood to be added to the EU terror list. It is also demanding an end to EU funding for organisations with ties to Islamist networks, full transparency over foreign funding, and an end to privileged access to European institutions for organisations affiliated with these networks.”

Following the trail of EU funding

For Assita Kanko, who serves as the ECR The N-VA is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a conservative, eurorealistic parliamentary group in the European Parliament. The N-VA shares their realistic view of the European project and also advocates for the correct and intensive application of the subsidiarity principle. For example, we must not be afraid to ask ourselves if it would be better to leave certain European initiatives to the Member States. The N-VA also identifies with the emphases that the ECR places on the social-economic issues. Since the 2014 elections, the ECR has become the third largest parliamentary group in the European Parliament. ECR Group’s spokesperson on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, transparency is another key concern.

“It is outrageous that European taxpayers’ money is being used to fund organisations such as Femyso, which actively undermine the freedoms and democratic values that Europe is supposed to defend.”

“We must be able to trace every euro from the EU budget all the way to its final recipient,” Kanko insists. “Organisations that cannot provide that level of transparency should no longer receive public funding.”

The ECR Group now expects the European Commission and the Council to act on the European Parliament’s position.