The European Union on Thursday slammed the new anti-virus travel ban announced by US President Donald Trump, lashing out at the “unilateral” decision.
In a joint statement, EU Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted that the coronavirus pandemic 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 US decision to improve a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” they said.
Given Italy’s nationwide travel lockdown and other measures taken by all the bloc’s 27 members, Von der Leyen and Michel dismissed Trump’s suggestion that the EU has not done enough in fighting the disease.
They said the EU “is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”
Taking dramatic action Wednesday, Trump announced he was sharply restricting passenger travel from 26 European nations to the US and moving to ease the economic cost of a viral pandemic that is roiling global financial markets and disrupting the daily lives of Americans.
Trump made the announcement during a rare Oval Office address to the nation that he was suspending all travel from Europe to the US for 30 days beginning at 11:59 p.m. Friday. After days of playing down the threat, he blamed Europe for not acting quickly enough to address the novel coronavirus and claimed that US clusters were “seeded” by European travelers.
“We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.” READ MORE
