France Steps Up Scrutiny of Muslim Brotherhood Influence in Universities and Schools

The resolution adopted by the European Parliament last week, calling for a coordinated response to the influence of Muslim Brotherhood networks, was not the first warning of its kind in Europe.

Several of the concerns raised by MEPs, chiefly that extremist groups use social media and educational settings to recruit young people, had already been flagged in a French security report. That report warned of attempts by political Islam, and specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, to gain a foothold in schools and universities.

The French approach

France’s effort to counter the Brotherhood’s presence in state institutions is the most recent in Europe, following the publication of a government report in May 2025. Nearly 18 months on, however, French academics and observers are still asking what has actually been done to curb the activities of political Islam.

In May, Aymeric Durox, a senator for the far-right National Rally (RN), raised what he called the “infiltration” of universities by the Brotherhood, particularly of the regional student services centres (Crous), which manage student housing and welfare across France’s university towns, according to the French Senate’s website.

Mr Durox sought to draw the attention of the minister for higher education, research and space to the issue. He cited the interior ministry report, which described the Muslim Students of France (EMF) as the student wing of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France (UOIF), now renamed Muslims of France and regarded by the report as the French branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The senator warned that EMF had supplied the movement with “many of its cadres at European level”. He pointed to its founder, Fouad Alaoui, whom the interior ministry report described as a key figure in the movement’s financial affairs in Europe. He also named more recent figures, including Hania Chalal, president of the European forum of Muslim youth and student organisations, and Hiba Latreche, president of the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (Femyso).

On Thursday, the European Parliament voted in favour of a resolution calling for a unified European strategy on Muslim Brotherhood networks and their influence. The resolution asks EU institutions to assess whether entities and individuals linked to the Brotherhood, starting with Femyso, should be added to the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.

In January, France’s National Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the Brotherhood and its leaders to be placed on that list, putting the question directly before European institutions.

Against that backdrop, Mr Durox asked how the government intended to tackle the presence of Brotherhood-linked associations in universities. He also asked what guarantees it could give taxpayers that public money would not fund such groups, and that they would not steer university boards towards adopting Islamist demands.

Setback for Lille school

In September, France’s consultative committee on private education issued an unfavourable opinion on appeals lodged by the Averroès Muslim school in Lille. The final decision now rests with the prefect of the Nord department, and for now the school remains outside the state contract system.

According to the Journal du Dimanche, the school, which has been in dispute with the state for three years, suffered a fresh blow when the committee largely rejected its requests.

The dispute dates back to December 2023, when the Nord prefecture ended the partnership contract that had linked Averroès to the state since 2008. That decision followed a series of inspections that raised questions about the curriculum, governance and funding of the school.

The paper reports that the state’s case against the school still contains serious allegations. Officials place Averroès within the Muslim Brotherhood’s sphere and argue that it operates a system at odds with the values of the French Republic. A 2023 inspection raised questions about an Islamic ethics course taught to pupils in their first year of upper secondary school. The authorities say some of the books used promoted ideas contrary to several republican principles, notably on gender equality, the place of religious law and relations with non-Muslims.

Inspectors also cited the attitudes of some teachers and links between people close to the school and Brotherhood-affiliated bodies. Their findings included pupils’ work containing conspiracy theories, a distorted version of the national motto, a lack of resources on secularism and other religions, and numerous works by Hassan Iquioussen, an imam described as close to the Brotherhood.

The school’s funding is also under scrutiny, the Journal du Dimanche says. French authorities have paid particular attention to its links with Qatar Charity, after a video emerged showing a teacher thanking the organisation for financial help in buying the school’s buildings. The legal battle continues.

Foreign backing

The Averroès case echoes warnings in a 2025 interior ministry document about the risk of “municipal Islamism”, which explicitly raised the question of the Brotherhood’s influence in France.

Le Monde reports that experts on political Islam consider this risk to be real, describing an ideologically diverse but highly active movement whose impact on public life and local politics is growing. The paper also notes the Brotherhood’s decline in several Middle Eastern countries, with the exception of Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The French report describes Turkey as having become the Brotherhood’s regional hub in the Middle East, where it can draw on state resources, particularly in support of its strategy of expansion into Europe.

The 2025 report by France’s security and intelligence services also spoke openly of “Turkish Muslim Brothers” who are very active in Europe, including France, though they have struggled to extend their influence beyond Turkish-speaking communities. It noted that the Brotherhood’s presence in Europe, particularly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, dates back to the 1950s and 1960s.

The report concludes that the movement has found more receptive ground in countries that recognise or encourage identities based on religious or cultural community, such as the UK and Belgium, and in those that recognise religions and sometimes fund them through optional taxes, such as Germany.