The European Youth Event (EYE), organised by the European Parliament in Strasbourg over the weekend of June 9 and 10, has sparked controversy after it included an invited delegation of 100 members of an NGO Muslim group that is said to have ties with the contentious Muslim Brotherhood.
The presence of the 100-member delegation from the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO) at the EYE, has outraged the French political Right.
France’s ID Group said it had been “astonished” that FEMYSO members were able to take part in the EYE, although it stated it had no knowledge of who had invited them. “We have asked for debates in the plenary on the presence of FEMYSO and ENAR [European Network Against Racism], put written questions to the European Commission on their funding by the Commission, and raised the alarm in every direction, but to no avail,” the group told Brussels Signal in a statement.
“The French Presidency of the Council has done nothing on the pretext that the agreement of all the Member States was needed because they do not have the same definitions of extremism. It’s all a big joke. There is a real taboo on anything that might have anything to do with the Muslim religion,” it added.
Meanwhile, Pierre Pinto, of Rassemblement National (RN), described the Muslim group’s presence as a “trojan horse” whose objective is to infiltrate European institutions. The ID Group aired a video on June 9 claiming FEMYSO had also received more than €210,000 of public money from European institutions in recent years.
French MEPs in the ID Group are now demanding that the European Parliament cut all ties with the controversial Muslim youth organisation.
Présence du #FEMYSO à l’événement de la jeunesse européenne #EYE2023 : jamais nous n’accepterons l’entrisme de l’islam politique au sein des institutions européennes ! ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Ea8speXKhk
— Groupe Identité et Démocratie – France (@GroupeID_FR) June 9, 2023
The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Sunni Islamist organisation founded in Egypt in 1928, and since banned there, whose aim is to Islamise society through the promotion of religious law, values and morals, according to outlets including the US think-tank Council on Foreign Relations.
When asked by Brussels Signal about the weekend event in Strasbourg, a European Parliament spokesperson said no contract or subsidy with or for FEMYSO had been facilitated for its participation in EYE 2023.
“As in previous editions of EYE, a significant number of participants are invited as MEP-sponsored groups. Each MEP can invite a group of up to 10 sponsored visitors of their choice, using their annual quota of sponsored visitors, possibly with accompanying participants,” the spokesperson said.
In 2021, two French ministers of the Macron-led government dubbed FEMYSO an “Islamist association that is attacking France”, and said it was a ‘front’ for extreme Islamism. One of the two, the French interior minister, promised at the time to raise the issue with the European Commission.
The EYE brings together hundreds of participants and, online, thousands of young people from all over the European Union and wider world, to share and shape their ideas on Europe’s future, according to a website promoting the event. The EYE strives to further equality, inclusiveness and sustainability, with a strong commitment to accessibility for everyone, it states.
The EYE describes itself as a unique opportunity for 16 to 30-year-olds to interact, inspire each other and exchange their views with experts, activists, influencers and decision-makers, right at the heart of European democracy.
Press release – European Youth Event 2023: young people to discuss Europe’s future in Strasbourg https://t.co/7Di6zYmksD pic.twitter.com/X6P4csFjPq
— ds press (@dspress) June 7, 2023
But many in France are more suspicious regarding FEMYSO’s real intentions.
Still, the youth group is no stranger to the European Union. In 2021 FEMYSO supported a controversial campaign that promoted the wearing of the hijab, the Islamic headscarf, in Europe. The campaign was apparently organised in the name of “revitalising pluralistic democracy”, for which the Council of Europe gave more than €40,000 in subsidies.
Next to many French officials, experts in the workings of radical Islam also say FEMYSO has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood – via the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (UOIE), which observers say represents a fundamentalist undercurrent of Islam in Europe and whose alleged aim is to train a European Muslim ‘elite’.
FEMYSO itself aims to disarm European concerns about Islam, describing negative comments as a “witch hunt”, while claiming to fight what it sees as “Islamophobia”.
Le #FEMYSO ("La liberté est dans le hijab”), organisation proche des Frères musulmans, enverra une délégation de 100 jeunes aux journées #EYE du Parlement européen : "EYE" porte bien son nom, arrêtons de fermer les YEUX sur cet #entrisme permanent !
Src : Femyso pic.twitter.com/h0ePuU9tOj— Gilbert Collard (@GilbertCollard) June 5, 2023
#EYE2023 Day 1 Vibes 📸
Making new friends 🤝
Beautiful weather ☀️
Important discussions 🙋♂️But most importantly so much fun 🎉 💫 @Europarl_EYE #TheFutureisYOUth pic.twitter.com/iOtZg6LNoF
— FEMYSO (@FEMYSO) June 10, 2023
