ENAR Statement on the EPP’s Racist Innuendos and MEP Leggeri’s False Allegations of Muslim Brotherhood Affiliation
Brussels, Belgium – 3 July 2026
Today, ENAR speaks out. Today we expose the architecture of defamatory attacks that our organisation has been increasingly subjected to for what they actually are: a coordinated far-right strategy to silence anti-racism voices, discredit civil society, and bury accountability under layers of racist innuendo.
For years, ENAR and our member organisations have been subjected to a systematic campaign of defamation, exclusion and intimidation as part of a deliberate patterns of political repression. This campaign has taken many forms: last-minute revocation of speaking invitations at institutional events, systematic exclusion from institutional consultative spaces, coordinated public attacks designed to smear our network’s reputation, and the deliberate creation of a climate of suspicion that has led to the dissolution of some of our member organisations. These are orchestrated strategic attacks seeking to create a climate of environment to silence those challenging institutional racism.
On 29-30 June 2026, the European People’s Party adopted a resolution at its Political Assembly in Vienna entitled “Interference of Political Islam in European democratic processes.” The resolution says it wants to distinguish between political Islam and the Islamic faith, but it frames “entryism” as a strategy of infiltration, calls the Muslim Brotherhood a relevant example, urges mapping “Islamist organisations” networks, calls for excluding actors linked to such movements from EU support and partnerships, and proposes monitoring mechanisms, intelligence sharing, due diligence, and a common indicator framework for “Islamist entryism.”
This is not a neutral policy exercise. Our work on Islamophobia has long shown that anti-Muslim racism does not only operate through open hostility, but also through securitised frameworks that make Muslim identity, Muslim association, and Muslim civic participation appear suspect. We do not engage with the language of “Islamism” as if it were a neutral analytical category, because it is state-designed terminology that has often been used to subject politically active organisations working on Islamophobia and/or led by Muslims to heightened scrutiny; that is precisely why we reject the architecture of separating “political Islam” from faith-based organisations and organisations working on Islamophobia as if that separation were politically innocent.
ENAR therefore sees the EPP resolution as part of a wider pattern that legitimises suspicion around Muslim communities and the organisations that defend their rights. Even where it claims to protect democratic processes, the effect is to normalise the idea that political presence of organisations defending the rights of Muslim communities, anti-islamophobia advocacy, and Muslim-led civil society are inherently risky or infiltratory. That is why ENAR would say this resolution is part of the same architecture of anti-Muslim racism that our work has been challenging for years.
On 24 June 2026, this same architecture took a more direct form inside the LIBE Committee. On 24 June 2026, French MEP Fabrice Leggeri – former Frontex director- launched yet another baseless accusation against ENAR, claiming once again our alleged closeness to the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’. The MEP in question called on the LIBE Committee to exclude ENAR from the meeting on the Anti-Racism Strategy. These attacks are part of sustained, coordinated campaign by far-right politicians to delegitimise anti-racism advocacy work, particularly organisations that dare to name Islamophobia or challenge the normalisation of institutional racism
This is not the first time MEP Leggeri, along with other far-right politicians such as MEP François-Xavier Bellamy1, has levelled this accusation against our Network. It is a recurring smear with a known purpose.
ENAR is an independent civil society organisation advocating for racial justice for 28 years. It is not, and have never been, ideologically aligned with any political movement, religious tendency, or state. Our governance is transparent, our board is democratically elected by the membership, and we are registered and fully accountable under Belgian law.
The attempt to level defamatory allegations against ENAR is a tactic that is rooted in a premeditated smear, a political weapon designed to silence those who fight Islamophobia and it is used since decades against human rights defenders, anti-racism activist, and organisations defending the rights of Muslim communities in Europe. It is a racist plot to discredit and defund civil society, to turn public institutions against those who hold power to account, and to normalise the idea that solidarity with Muslim community is inherently suspect.
We categorically reject the framework of these attacks that are no more than political slurs, tools of cultural warfare meant to shut down debate and smear those who challenge power.
ENAR’s mandate is clear: we oppose all forms of racism and religious discrimination and our positions are grounded in EU law, the Racial Equality Directive, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – not in ideology, not on political alignment, and certainly not on the whims of far-right politicians seeking to distract from their own crimes and inhumane positionalities reflected in recent legislations adopted, including the ‘Deportation Regulation’.
It is telling that those who level these accusations through statements or reports, have never contacted ENAR for comment, evidence, or clarification. They have never sought to understand our work, our governance, or our positions. Why? Because far from beyond research, this is political repression generated without once engaging with the very organisations they seek to destroy. It is character assassination by proxy, a cowardly attempt to assassinate reputations from the shadows.
And let us not forget the context: these attacks are coming from an MEP currently under investigation for crimes against humanity2. When a politician facing such grave allegations weaponises Islamophobic smears to silence civil society, we must ask: what are they trying to hide? Why attack the very organisations that document state violence, that challenge institutional racism, that demand accountability?
In this moment, we must also acknowledge the courage of those MEPs who stood in defence of truth and justice at the LIBE meeting. Their voices cut through the noise of smear and defamation. To MEP Marco Tarquinio (S&D), To MEP Melissa Camara (Greens/EFA), to MEP Pernando Barrena (Left), to MEP Cecilia Strada (S&D) and MEP Birgit Sippel (S&D), we thank you for your principled defence of anti-racism work and civil society in this increasingly hostile environment. Your interventions embody acts of resistance against the normalisation of racism in our institutions.
To the LIBE Committee, to the European institutions, and to all who value democracy and human rights: we call on you to recognise these attacks for what they are about: power, the power to silence, to smear, and to control the narrative. They are an attempt to replace evidence-based advocacy with ideological purity tests and attempts to derail justice by discrediting those who fight for it.
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About ENAR
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is the largest pan-European network that advocates for racial equality and justice in Europe. ENAR works to put an end to structural racism and discrimination and to make a real difference in the lives of ethnic and religious minorities across Europe.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Amira Salama / +32 489 02 78 63
ENAR Communications Officer
