European Parliament backs anti-Brotherhood strategy by 381 votes, but the listing power sits elsewhere

The European Parliament adopted resolution B10-0424/2026, “The need for an EU strategy to counter Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network,” on Thursday 8 October. The roll-call record published by HowTheyVote.eu shows 381 in favour, 167 against and 15 abstentions, with 563 MEPs voting and 156 not voting. The group breakdown carries the story: the European People’s Party, which drafted the text, voted 143 for and one against; the Socialists and Democrats voted 84 against and two for; Patriots for Europe voted 67 for with no dissent and no abstentions. French EPP member Céline Imart led the negotiations and is named as author across multiple outlets. The Hungarian Conservative reports the majority ran from Renew Europe through EPP, ECR, Patriots and ESN; Al Arabiya reports that left-wing groups opposed it from the outset. JNS reports the European Conservatives and Reformists had also pushed for the vote.

What the text does and does not do matters more than the margin. It is a political resolution. It imposes no ban, creates no offence and triggers no sanctions — the formulation is Hespress’s, the Moroccan outlet that stated the limit most plainly. The mechanism it creates is narrower: member states are asked to supply information allowing the Council of the EU to assess whether Brotherhood-linked individuals and entities meet the criteria for inclusion on the EU terrorist list. Listing authority rests with the Council. Substantively the resolution condemns a “strategy of Islamist entryism aimed at weakening democratic institutions across EU Member States,” calls for a common methodology to identify “double messaging” — moderate language in political settings, radical language in mosques — and asks the Commission to block EU funds reaching linked entities and to increase transparency on the ultimate recipients of public money. Imart, quoted by the Hungarian Conservative: “We need to make sure Europe doesn’t fund Islamists.”

Assessment: Read the headlines against the text. Breitbart, The National and JNS compressed a request for information into “EU backs terror listing”; Hespress did not. Parliament has no listing power and knows it, which is why the operative clause is addressed to member states and the Council. The real test is whether any national government actually files a dossier in Brussels — until one does, this is a position paper with a large majority behind it. Two things to hold: 156 MEPs did not vote, including 40 from the EPP and 48 from S&D, so the 381 is a majority of those present, not of the chamber. And the plenary debate was held on 7 October, the third anniversary of the Hamas attack. That was a scheduling choice.