The European Parliament votes to include the "Brotherhood" on the terrorist list

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On Thursday, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling for a unified European strategy to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood’s networks and influence, in a new step that places the issue of including the group and entities linked to it on the European terrorism list before the Union’s institutions.

The resolution received 381 votes in favor and 167 against, while 15 members abstained from voting, according to the results of voting on the resolution related to developing a European strategy to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood network and its influence.

The European resolution calls for an evaluation of the possibility of including entities and individuals linked to the Muslim Brotherhood on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, along with measures related to financing and cooperation between member states to confront the activities of networks linked to the group.

The European vote comes after a French move within the National Parliament. On January 22, 2026, the French National Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the inclusion of the Brotherhood and its leaders on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, so that the issue becomes directly before the European institutions.

In January, the European Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly adopted a recommendation calling for the group to be included on the European list, noting the cross-border nature of its networks and calling for a coordinated European response.

The European move coincided with an American decision in January 2026 to classify the Brotherhood in Egypt as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity” (SDGT), in a move that Cairo welcomed and considered consistent with its position on the group.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the American classification reflects the Egyptian position that has existed since the aftermath of June 30, 2013, stressing that Cairo classifies the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and believes that it has practiced violence and incitement and exploited religion to achieve political goals.

In a related context, the European Observatory for Combating Extremism revealed, on Wednesday, an American escalation against the Brotherhood, represented by the state of Florida taking a decisive decision against the group and one of its branches in the state on September 29 last year.

The Observatory stated, in a press statement, that the Florida state government classified the Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with another organization, as domestic terrorist organizations.

He added that the government included in the same list more than 90 foreign terrorist organizations previously classified by the US federal government as such, noting that, according to this decision, the Council and other listed organizations will be prohibited from receiving financial support from local and state governments, and scholarships allocated to the schools affiliated with them that benefit from them financially will also be cancelled.

Legal proceedings began against the group in Egypt in 2013, when legal decisions were issued banning the group’s activity, which included closing its headquarters and all its activities. Then the procedures for including the group and entities associated with it on lists of terrorist entities continued under subsequent judicial rulings and decisions. Egyptian official records show that listing decisions related to the group and its entities continued in the following years.

In January 2026, the file moved to a new American level with the classification of the Brotherhood in Egypt, while in the same month the French National Assembly took an explicit political step towards pushing for the inclusion of the group and its leaders on the European list.

In February 2026, the Council of the European Union expanded the criteria for its terrorist list to include leaders of listed groups and persons and entities linked to terrorist acts through financing, training or recruitment, but left the list itself unchanged in that review.