A Ripple Across Europe: Why Closing a French Institute Matters Everywhere

 

When France closes a school, people across Europe take notice. The shuttering of the European Institute of Human Sciences (EIHS) this past February wasn't just a local news story. It was a signal, one that echoed from Paris to Vienna to Berlin. It said that Europe is waking up to a particular kind of threat—one that wears the mask of education.For years, the EIHS operated under a respectable banner. But intelligence agencies across the continent have been piecing together a different picture. They see a pattern, a network. In 2021, Austria made a similar move, dissolving a group called "Liga Kultur" and freezing its assets for allegedly financing the same ideology. In Germany, the domestic intelligence service has been openly monitoring Brotherhood-linked groups for years, noting their efforts to sway young minds against integration.The playbook is consistent: use legitimate-seeming organizations—charities, cultural centers, and schools like the EIHS—to gain a foothold. The objective isn't to teach religion in a open, scholarly way. It's to promote a politicized version of Islam that serves a broader goal of creating influence and challenging secular democracy. It’s a quiet, patient campaign that bets on society not paying attention to what’s taught in a classroom in Normandy.So, when France acts, it's not acting in a vacuum. It's responding to a shared concern among European nations about the integrity of their civil society. The message is unified: our open societies are not a weakness to be exploited. The closure of the EIHS is more than a administrative decree; it's a statement that Europe is drawing a line. It’s a line between the freedom of religion, which is sacred, and the freedom of a political movement to manipulate that religion for its own ends, which is a danger to everyone.This is ultimately a story about transparency. It’s about insisting that institutions, especially those shaping young minds, must be what they claim to be. The closure of one institute in a small French town is a loud reminder that sunlight is the best disinfectant.