Trumps pressure on EU unacceptable: Hollande
AFP
AFP, VALLETTA: French President Francois Hollande on Friday criticised unacceptable pressure on the European Union from his US counterpart Donald Trump, who has predicted a break-up of the bloc.
It is unacceptable that there should be, through a certain number of statements by the president of the United States, pressure on what Europe should or should not be, Hollande told reporters at an EU summit in Malta.
Who really knows what the US president wants, particularly for the transatlantic alliance, and on the sharing of expenses that he calls a burden, Hollande added.
Asked what he thought about the apparent support for Trump coming from the leaders of Poland and Hungary, Hollande said There can be no future with Trump if it is
not defined together by the EU, adding that what is at stake is the destiny of the EU.
A lot of countries should think that their future is first with the EU, rather than imagining who-knows-what bilateral relationship with the US.
Trump has alarmed many in Europe by backing Britains decision to leave the EU, predicting that more countries will jump ship and calling the US-led NATO military alliance obsolete.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile said the best way for the 28-nation bloc to deal with a US administration that seems ambivalent to Europe is to push forward with its own plans.
I already said that Europe has its destiny in its own hands, Merkel told reporters as she arrived in Valletta.
And I believe the stronger we state clearly how we define our role in the world, the better we can take care with our transatlantic relations, she added.
That is why for me, talks about Europe are here in the foreground and not to deal with other parts of the world.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern meanwhile criticised Trumps controversial migration curbs.
The entry bans against seven Muslim countries are... highly problematic, Kern said. We should win them over in the fight against Islamism and not define them as adversaries.
