Europe needs to take a clear stance on US President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting nationals from Muslim-majority countries, German President Joachim Gauck said on Saturday.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order that barred passport-holders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days. The order also indefinitely suspended the US refugee program for Syrians, citing national security concerns.
The order sent shockwaves around the world, with tens of thousands of previously approved visas invalidated due to the ban. A US federal judge temporarily suspended the order on Friday, but the White House has said it will work to reinstate the ban.
“We should speak out very clearly on this,” Gauck said in an interview published Saturday in five European daily newspapers.