President Emmanuel Macron convened senior ministers yesterday to address a state-commissioned report that accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of waging a covert campaign via local proxies to subvert France’s secular values and institutions.
The report called for action to halt what it called a slow-burning spread of ‘political Islam’ posing a threat to social cohesion, drawing swift criticism from members of the Muslim community and some academics.
Under mounting pressure from a rising far-right opposition, Macron has undertaken a crackdown on what he calls Islamist separatism by seeking to limit foreign influence over Muslim institutions and communities.
Now, presidential advisers say Macron wants to tackle what they frame as a long-term plan to infiltrate state institutions and change them from within.
“The reality of this threat, even if it is long-term and does not involve violent action, highlights the risk of damage to the fabric of society and republican institutions,” said an excerpt of the report, a copy of which Reuters obtained.
The government has said it will not publish the report in full. Macron ordered ministers to draw up measures in response to the report for another government meeting in June.
The report said the Islamist campaign was focusing on schools, mosques and local non-governmental organisations, with the aim of influencing rule-making at local and national levels, notably concerning secularism and gender equality.
The report describes the Musulmans de France (Muslims of France) association as the ‘national branch’ of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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