Daily Times

LISBON: French President Francois Hollande urged Europe to form a united front and provide a firm response to US President Donald Trump, at a gathering Saturday of southern European Union leaders. “We must conduct firm dialogue with the new American administration which has shown it has its own approach to the problems we all face,” he said at the end of the gathering as he was flanked by the other leaders who took part. Trump has rattled America’s traditional European allies with a range of radical policy plans. He has called NATO “obsolete”, announced he would rip up a planned transatlantic trade plan and supported Britain’s move to leave the EU, praising the decision as “a wonderful thing” during a meeting Friday with British Prime Minister Theresa May. On Friday, he also signed an executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees and impose tough controls on travellers from seven Muslim countries. “When he adopts protectionist measures, which could destabilise economies not just in Europe but the economies of the main countries of the world, we have to respond,” Hollande added. “And when he refuses the arrival of refugees, while Europe has done its duty, we have to respond.” While officially the new administration in Washington was not on the agenda, the six other European leaders who took part in the summit also allude to Trump.