Political figures close to French President Emmanuel Macron are sharpening their stance toward Muslim Brotherhood-linked networks as political Islam and national identity return to the centre of France’s presidential debate.
The shift comes ahead of the 2027 presidential election and amid growing pressure from the French right and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which have made immigration, Islam and secularism central campaign issues.
At the beginning of September, Le Pen renewed her call for a ban on wearing the hijab in public. Her proposal coincided with the advancement of a separate government bill targeting what French officials describe as “Islamist infiltration.”
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the legislation was prepared in coordination with Macron and the prime minister before being submitted to the Council of State for review.
According to Nuñez, the bill targets methods associated with the Muslim Brotherhood that do not necessarily involve violence but seek to influence institutions, associations and public services.
Associations and local institutions face scrutiny
Christian Gravel, a former French Interior Ministry official specialising in counter-extremism, said authorities are expected to increase their scrutiny of associations that receive municipal funding while operating youth programmes, sports activities or partnerships with public institutions.
Speaking to Erem News, Gravel said such organisations become a particular concern when their institutional presence enables them to influence local decisions or expand their social and political reach.
One measure under consideration would give prefects greater authority to intervene when an association benefits from public funding, municipal premises or partnership agreements but uses that position to promote practices that conflict with France’s republican principles.
Continued access to public funding could also be linked to more frequent audits of an organisation’s management, activities and affiliated entities.
Financial networks under tighter oversight
Gravel said funding remains one of the most difficult areas for authorities to monitor, particularly when municipal subsidies are combined with private donations, foreign financing or contracts between administratively connected associations.
The government is consequently examining the relationship between funding sources, governing boards and the organisations or individuals that ultimately benefit from those resources.
Rather than placing large numbers of people or organisations on politically compiled watchlists, Gravel said the more effective approach would be to strengthen the legal mechanisms available to freeze assets, withdraw subsidies and dissolve institutions.
Such measures would require evidence that an organisation had systematically attempted to influence public institutions or pressure them into adopting practices incompatible with France’s republican principles.
Municipal authorities are expected to play a central role because much of the interaction between public bodies and community associations occurs through sports halls, cultural centres, youth programmes and local grants.
Improving information-sharing between prefectures, municipalities and the Interior Ministry would therefore be more useful than establishing an entirely new agency, Gravel said.
Senate backs expanded enforcement powers
In May, the French Senate approved legislation aimed at combating what it described as “Islamist infiltration.”
The bill would establish a new offence covering attacks on the fundamental principles of the French Republic, broaden the legal grounds for dissolving associations and introduce mechanisms for freezing the assets of individuals and institutions. The legislation subsequently moved to the National Assembly.
A Senate legal committee report identified cutting off funding to organisations using social or institutional influence for political purposes as one of the bill’s central objectives.
The policy builds on measures introduced after a May 2025 Interior Ministry report examining the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam in France. Those recommendations have taken on a more operational character during the current year.
The ministry says legislation adopted in 2021 has enabled authorities to record more than 900 offences associated with separatism, dissolve 16 associations or organisations and temporarily close 14 places of worship.
Macron’s centrists enter the political battle
French journalist Erwan Seznec, who specialises in political Islam, said the increasingly forceful position adopted by some centrist politicians also reflects changes in the electoral contest.
Political Islam was once an issue dominated largely by the right and National Rally. It has now become an area of competition within the political centre, as potential successors to Macron seek to demonstrate that they can confront the issue without adopting the rhetoric of the far right.
Seznec said centrists will seek to distinguish between Muslims as members of French society and organisations that use religion to build political influence.
Maintaining that distinction will be essential if Macron’s camp wants to present itself as more assertive than it has been in previous years without appearing to target religious practice itself.
The next stage of the confrontation is therefore likely to unfold through relations among the state, associations, schools and municipal authorities rather than through sweeping symbolic measures.
At the heart of the debate is the state’s ability to determine where legitimate social and religious activity ends and where organised political influence begins.
The accelerating presidential campaign has made the issue increasingly sensitive. Former prime ministers Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal are among the centrist figures positioning themselves for the post-Macron era, while Le Pen continues to push questions of identity and Islam to the forefront of the electoral contest.
Political Islam is therefore emerging as one of the issues likely to shape the future of France’s political centre, as prospective candidates attempt to demonstrate greater resolve through state institutions without surrendering the debate entirely to the right.
