Belgian Muslim Leadership Body Rejects Criticism, Vows Improvements Amid Controversy

In a press release, the Executive of Muslims of Belgium claims not to recognize, in its evaluation report, any "lack of competence", as some media have wanted to make believe. However, the Executive notes "certain shortcomings" that it intends to improve for its organization in order to ensure better institutional stability.

To recall the facts, it should be specified that in 2014, the renewal project on which the current texts of the Executive of Muslims of Belgium are based, provided for several recommendations. These include the representation of women, minorities and other skills through co-options and unique instruments to promote better representativeness. According to the leaders of the Executive, this project is well known to the Federal Public Service Justice.

In July 2020, an evaluation report was finalized by the Council for the Coordination of Islamic Institutions in Belgium (CIB), in order to submit it to the outgoing Minister of Justice Koen GEENS. However, against all expectations, the latter wished that this report be submitted to the Minister of the future full-term government. This is how, as early as October 2020, an appointment had been requested to meet the new minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, in order to transmit the report to him. This is why the leaders of the EMB say that "this report therefore does not come after the exit of the Minister of Justice in the press on 04/12/2020 as some want to claim." They also stress that "this report does not come either to confirm the unfounded accusations of the Minister as has been insinuated in the press in recent days."

"This report was designed in a constructive and internal way to our institution and with the aim of being communicated in good faith to the Minister of Justice in the context of relations between cults and public authorities. The political comments made in the press are completely abusive and totally unacceptable," the Executive observes. The institution also indicates that "the people to whom the report refers, who are well known to the FPS Justice for their extremist ideologies and their actions to destabilize our institution, are not at all those who were the subject of the unfounded accusations of the Minister."

According to the leaders of the Executive, "our institutions are not responsible for the media coverage of this report which had been designed for internal use and transmitted to the Minister for information only in compliance with the principle of the autonomy of cults. They also state that "if we had wanted a publication of this report in the press, it would have been adapted accordingly to avoid the interpretations that take it out of context," denouncing in passing that this report is being instrumentalized by politics in order to denigrate its bodies and its leaders.