Europe's Parliament Finally Names the Muslim Brotherhood Problem. Now Follow America's Lead
The European Parliament voted 381 to 167 for a strategy against "Islamist entryism," EU funding checks and terrorist listings of Brotherhood-linked entities where EU legal criteria are met. In our view, it is overdue, and the U.S. has shown the way.
By Clara Hughes
ALTAS WORLD NEWS OPINION | By Clara Hughes, Chief Opinion Editor | October 9, 2026 | 6-min read For years, European leaders tiptoed around a hard question: what to do about Islamist networks that use democratic freedoms to advance a political project hostile to those freedoms. On Thursday, the European Parliament finally said the words out loud. By a vote of 381 to 167, with 15 abstentions, lawmakers called for an EU strategy to counter "Islamist entryism" and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network [1][2]. In our view, it is a welcome step, and it follows a path America has already taken. Key Takeaways The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Oct. 8 calling for a European methodology to identify signs of "Islamist entryism," tighter checks on EU funding, and Council listing of Muslim Brotherhood-linked entities and individuals as terrorists where the EU's legal criteria are met [1][3]. The resolution is non-binding. It does not itself list any organization as terrorist, and on face coverings it supports national bans rather than creating an EU-wide one; follow-up depends on the Council, the Commission and member states [1][4]. In January, the United States designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for supporting Hamas [5][6]. Here