France will tackle the Muslim Brotherhood on a "case-by-case basis" as efforts to have it listed as a terrorist organisation would be "impossible to implement and legally fragile", Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said.
The French Parliament in January voted to endorse a resolution for the EU to add the Muslim Brotherhood to its list of terrorist groups. The move was adopted with 157 votes for and 101 against.
But Mr Nunez played down such a broad push, telling French outlet Le Monde that "no western democracy has embarked on this path, except perhaps the United States, and even then, it concerns branches operating abroad".
"We prefer to act on a case-by-case basis against certain individuals and organisations potentially affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood when we observe that, in their rhetoric and actions, they challenge the laws of the Republic," he said, referring to France.
In the January vote, Parliament called on the European Commission and European Council to undertake a "legal and factual assessment of the transnational network of the Muslim Brotherhood, its ramifications in Europe and its methods of operation".
The resolution also “invites the commission to submit to the council a proposal to include the Muslim Brotherhood movement and its leaders on the European list of terrorist organisations, in view of its subversive ideology, its support for terrorist entities such as Hamas, its calls for hatred and its covert actions against democratic institutions".
The text described the Muslim Brotherhood, which has its roots in Egypt, as a threat to European values. It highlighted it was banned by Jordan and that the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Russia have cracked down on the group.
Mr Nunez accused the group of trying to influence French municipal elections in March. He said that included using "individuals who are in reality advanced pawns in order to exert influence from within" by placing them on electoral lists of traditional political parties. "We have indeed observed this on some lists," he added. "But we cannot prevent these candidacies."
In early March, Mr Nunez tried to ban the first large-scale meeting in six years of the Muslims of France, an umbrella organisation viewed as being close to the Muslim Brotherhood. The decision was reversed by an administrative court in early April.
"This year we considered that a number of speakers had, in the past, made statements calling into question their adherence to the values of the Republic," Mr Nunez said.
Last year, the French government launched a strategy to curb the Muslim Brotherhood's influence, including an asset-freeze mechanism and the disbanding of endowment funds.
Mr Nunez also defended his opposition to barring girls from wearing the hijab, saying it would have an unfair impact on France's Muslim population. A draft law pushed by right-wing politicians this year failed to gain traction.
"I have no problem with Islam in France," he said. "Religious symbols and fasting are not the issue. The issue is individuals and structures that openly promote an anti-Republican discourse."
