Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from French weekly magazine Marianne:

Political Islam: The European Commission maintains that they no longer finance FEMSYO

by Jean-Loup Adenor
September 14, 2022

The European Commission has informed Marianne that the association FEMSYO, tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, was not receiving any more financing from the European Union. “A very good sign” for the European deputy Ilana Cicurel, who maintains that France can count on certain of her neighbors in the fight against fundamentalist Islam.

Has the European Union really turned off the tap? On Tuesday, September 13, Marianne revealed excerpts from the letter written by Gerald Darmanin, Minister of Interior, Catherine Colonna, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and Lawrence Boone, Secretary of State for Europe to the European Commission to call it to account for subsidies granted to FEMSYO (Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations), an association close to the Muslim Brotherhood. According to our information, the ministers, as of today, have not received any response from the European Commissioners they have queried. Asked by Marianne, the European Commission nevertheless informed us on Wednesday, September 14, that FEMSYO, “does not currently receive any funding from the European Commission,” admitting that, “in the past, it has received a certain amount of funds from the EU.”

The European Commission noted the rules concerning: No funding for organizations “that pursue illegal or extremist objectives, or that do not fully respect fundamental values and rights. We only fund organizations that adhere to the values of the Union, as enunciated in Article 2 of the treaty.” Among these values, particularly equality between men and women, tolerance, justice… “ In case of violation of the applicable conditions, we have the means to put an end to cooperation and recover the money, if necessary.”

“We have allies”

“This is a very good sign!” European Deputy (Renaissance) Ilana Cicurel, committed to these questions of secularism and fundamentalist infiltration, rejoices with Marianne. “This response commits them. I think that the letters from the French government have not left them indifferent,” she continues. There has been, up to now at least, a lack of thought from the European Commission on this subject, and, on the other side, a very big ability of the associations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood to put together files which seem to correspond to our European values.” For Ilana Cicurel, the European institutions are beginning to “become aware of the menace that today can also come from this kind of association.”

The Secretary of State for Europe, Lawrence Boone, explained to Marianne last August that “in addition to our calls for vigilance that we already issued in the past, we envision a common approach with our European partners in Brussels on this subject, to recall the risks of undermining social cohesion, induced by certain actions and messages of FEMSYO.” Which European partners, when many among them criticize the secularism of the French? “We have some allies on this subject,” says Ilana Cicurel. “Belgium, the Netherlands… countries that have experienced the consequences of Islam in their flesh.”