Council of European Muslims

The Coun­cil of Euro­pean Mus­lims (CEM), pre­vi­ous­ly known as The Fed­er­a­tion of Islam­ic Orga­ni­za­tions in Europe (FIOE), describes itself as a “cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tion, with hun­dreds of mem­ber orga­ni­za­tions spread across 28 Euro­pean States, all sub­scrib­ing to a com­mon belief in a method­ol­o­gy based on mod­er­a­tion and bal­ance, which rep­re­sents the tol­er­ance of Islam.”  In real­i­ty, the CEM is an umbrel­la group that com­pris­es the glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in Europe, and its cur­rent Pres­i­dent is Abdul­lah Ben­man­sour, a long-time leader of the Mus­lim Broth­er­hood in France. The CEM has a head­quar­ters office in Brus­sels and has had some suc­cess in posi­tion­ing itself as a “dia­log part­ner” for the EU and oth­er impor­tant insti­tu­tions. The CEM has also spawned numer­ous oth­er orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing the Euro­pean Coun­cil for Fat­wa and Research (ECFR) and the Fed­er­a­tion of Mus­lim Youth and Stu­dent Orga­ni­za­tions (FEMYSO).