An NGO linked to the Muslim Brotherhood was given a platform at the European Parliament this week despite its established links with the hardline Islamist group. The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is a pan-European, anti-racist umbrella group that hosted a series of panels and policy meetings with MEPs at the Parliament from March 20th to 22nd.
ENAR has been repeatedly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood by EU officials, with its recently retired director, Michaël Privot, admitting he was a former member of the extremist organisation. The Muslim Brotherhood is a global Islamist organisation banned in multiple countries, and noted for its entryism into civil society groups.
Several MEPs from the Left and Green groups, including Slovakian EPP MEP Peter Pollak, sponsored the ENAR’s use of parliamentary facilities.
The ENAR, which is funded by the Open Society Foundation and Sigrid Rausing Trust, plays a significant role in initiating hate speech legislation across the EU and monitoring anti-Islamic hate crimes.
During the conference, panellists discussed legislative countermeasures to structural racism and the EU’s action plan against racism. ENAR has strong links with the European Commission, which initiates legislation, and the group regularly liaises with the EU’s coordinator, Marion Lalisse, on Islamophobia.
Among the groups featured at ENAR’s events was the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO), which has been accused of being the de facto Muslim Brotherhood youth wing in Europe by counter-extremism experts. FEMYSO, which receives EU funding, has campaigned against French laws on secularism and is a subsidiary of the Council of European Muslims (CEM), acknowledged as another front for the Muslim Brotherhood. FEMYSO leadership has strong personal and professional links with the Muslim Brotherhood and is accused of training an Islamist elite in Europe.
In 2021, French ministers heavily criticised the group for its lobbying of the EU Commission, with FEMYSO explicitly named as having Islamist links in a 2021 EU Parliamentary report into the infiltration of European civil society by Islamic extremism.
The ENAR responded to a request from The European Conservative, saying they were unaware of any links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
