The Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE), representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe, has announced that its Dutch member organization has established a new youth and student organization. According to the FIOE announcement:
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Holland has established a new organization for youth and students, during a meeting attended by representatives from the edification departments, da’wah and assimilation of new Muslims. All attendees agreed on the necessity of organizing many meetings to discuss the future strategy of the organization and forming its action plan. The first meeting of this series will be held on Saturday March 20th 2010.
The leader of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Holland (FION) is Yahia Bouyafa who also heads the Europe Trust Nederland, the Dutch branch of the Europe Trust, the funding/endowment arm of FIOE. Previous posts have profiled Mr. Bouyafa, his role as a dialog partner for the Dutch government, his part in a public broadcasting controversy, and his real-estate dealings on behalf of the Europe Trust.
A report on FIOE by the NEFA Foundation describes the organization as follows:
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) claims to be an independent organization representing the interests of Muslims in Europe. In reality, the FIOE is an umbrella group that comprises the global Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. Strong links connect FIOE’s leadership central institutions and member organizations to the Brotherhood, as well as to Saudi Arabia. Funding for the FIOE is derived largely from Gulf sources, including some of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates. The FIOE has strong ties to Hamas and Hamas fund-raising organizations, and some FIOE member organizations show evidence of links with Al-Qaida. The FIOE recently opened a headquarters office in Brussels and has had some success in positioning itself as a “dialog partner” for the EU and other important institutions.
FIOE has its own youth organization known as the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO). Over the years, FEMYSO has developed a relationship with both the Council of Europe and the European Commission where it has been invited since 2003 to attend meetings of the Group of Policy Advisers (GOPA). One of the important leaders of FEMYSO over the years has been Ibrahim El-Zayat, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany.