The European Commission has said that the European Union “disapproves” of President Donald Trump’s decision to protect his citizens from further foreign exposure to coronavirus by banning entry from most of the bloc’s countries without having consulted with Brussels, first.
President Trump announced the 30-day ban on Wednesday which will go into effect on Friday. The ban is limited to mainland Europe, specifically the countries in the visa-free travel area known as the Schengen Zone, like France, Germany, and Sweden.
The UK and Ireland are not affected, as are non-Schengen countries like Croatia and Romania. Non-EU countries on the continent like Serbia and Ukraine are likewise not affected.
The European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive arm, said on Thursday: “The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action.
“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.
“The European Union is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”
In light of rapid developments, working on responses on all fronts to tackle #coronavirus impact.
Assessment with scientists, coordination of health and border measures, provision of protective equipment, package to prop up the EU economy. pic.twitter.com/zhLp6nlnmh— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 12, 2020
In an effort to show President Trump that Eurocrats were working on a ‘European Solution’ to the outbreak, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that same hour as her office released the statement a picture of her and her colleagues sitting around a table “working on responses on all fronts to tackle the coronavirus impact”.
President Trump said the temporary ban is as a result of the EU failing to take “precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots” which he said resulted in European travellers to the U.S. triggering infection “clusters” stateside.
The European Commission is not the only EU voice to have expressed offence at the targetted travel ban. A leading figure in the European Parliament, Dacian Cioloş, complained that President Trump was treating Europe as a “scapegoat” and said what is needed is not “nationalism”, but “global solidarity”.
Coronavirus Travel Ban: Eurocrat Complains Europe Is Trump’s ‘Scapegoat’, Slams ‘Nationalism’ https://t.co/owRlGVxrmv
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 12, 2020
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