When will the EU take France’s Islamist concerns seriously?

The European Parliament hosted an event in Brussels last week entitled ‘Close Guantanamo’. It was hosted by two Irish left-wing MEPs, and among the invites were representatives of Cage, which has been described by the French government as an ‘Islamist’ organisation, an allegation Cage denies.

Cage was briefly infamous in Britain in 2015 when its director, Asim Qureshi, called Islamic State butcher Mohammed Emwazi, aka ‘Jihadi John’, who made a living hacking off Westerners’ heads, a ‘beautiful young man’ and blamed security services for his radicalisation. Qureshi later said he regretted his ‘inappropriate description’ of the Isis fighter.

Cage isn’t the only organisation with dubious credentials that has been courted by the EU in recent years. A report in the French Sunday newspaper Le Journal de Dimanche last week disclosed that the European Commission has funded a project fighting ‘Islamophobia’ to the tune of €100,000 (£87,000). One of the groups to benefit from the EU’s largesse had links to the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which was proscribed by the French government in 2020 after the murder of schoolteacher Samuel Paty. 

What could be described as the deepening of ties between the EU and various Islamic organisations has accelerated since Helena Dalli was appointed the EU’s Commissioner for Equality in 2019. A