US President Donald Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries is wrong because it breaches fundamental rights and will not boost security, EU Undersecretary Sandro Gozi said Monday.
"I remain convinced that these closures based on nationality or religion are wrong and also violate some fundamental rights of people," he said.
"You just have to think of September 11, of the attack on the Twin Towers.
"The measures proposed by Trump today would not avert that tragic event, since the terrorists were Saudis, that is a country which is not affected by the ban imposed by the White House".
Trump provoked a fierce backlash at the weekend after signing an executive order banning people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from travelling to America for the next 90 days. He also ordered a 130-day ban on all refugee arrivals and an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.
"In any case," Gozi said, "I think that the arrival of Trump in the White House is a huge political event. We are coming from a period marked by global disorder and now we're going towards another type of global disorder, which will be marked by power relations and bilateral relations.
"Trump may represent a stimulus, a push for Europe, so that it wakes up and takes on the right responsibilities in security and European defence matters.
"We have been calling for some time for steps forward by Europe, now these steps are compulsory because of the new position of Trump on NATO".
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