Despite Strong Rhetoric, Europe Remains Divided Over Trump's Immigration Ban

European political figures have failed to show a united front against US President Donald Trump's decision to restrict immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries, with some senior officials failing to condemn, and others even supporting the highly controversial order.

Trump's executive order restricting citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US initially triggered strong protest among some European leaders, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying the plans went against her "interpretation of the basic tenets of international refugee support and cooperation."

"The necessary and decisive fight against terrorism does not justify a general suspicion against people of a certain belief — in this case people of Muslim belief or people from a certain country," Merkel said.

© REUTERS / Hannibal Hanschke

​French President Francois Hollande said the EU needed to show a united front and be "firm" with the US president, while chief Brexit negotiator and Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt said Trump and his ideas were a threat to the EU.

"We have a third front, for the moment, undermining the European Union, and it is Donald Trump," Verhofstadt said in a speech at an event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House.

© Flickr / ALDE Communication

'Matter for the Government of the United States'

However for all the rhetoric and strong response to Trump's so-called "Muslim ban," many European leaders remained weary of criticizing the US president's executive order.

After initially dodging questions on the matter, British Prime Minister Theresa May simply said: "We do not agree with this kind of approach," before noting that the travel ban "is a matter for the government of the United States, just the same as immigration policy for this country should be set by our government."

Theresa May again shows she's weak weak weak, unable to stand up for basic rights, including her own people's, because she's Trump's stooge.

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) January 30, 2017

​In a sense of self-reflection, Italian Foreign Minister, Angelino Alfano, said the EU was in no position to judge Trump's immigration policies, citing the bloc's poor handling of the migration crisis.

Europe "is not in a good position to give opinions about the choices of others. Or is it that we want to forget that we too erect walls in Europe," Alfano told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

© AP Photo / Gregorio Borgia, file

"No one should be surprised by Trump's actions since he had spoken about such things in the election campaign and, on the basis of what he said, he won. He is not doing anything other than implementing his promises," Alfano said.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the German Christian Social Union and Premier of Bavaria, echoed the sentiment about Trump's quick action on the matter:

"He is consistently implementing his election promises point by point. In Germany, we would first set up a working group, then a test group and then a further implementation group."

© AP Photo / Matthias Schrader

Europe Divided: 'Trump Showing How It's Done'

While some senior European officials failed to condemn Trump's executive order, other fringe political figures highlighted the European divide on the matter by openly supporting the president's plans.

Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy's right-wing Northern League, took to Twitter to call for a similar response to Europe's migration crisis, saying:

"An invasion is under way, it needs to be blocked."

If Europe would have closed its borders for Islamic countries as Trump is doing now, many innocent terror victims would still be alive now.

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) January 30, 2017

​This support was also backed by Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party.

"Trump is doing it right, he is showing how it"s done. An absolute but temporary entry ban for citizens of six Islam-dominated countries with a terrorism problem follows a reasonable logic," said AfD deputy leader Alexander Gauland.

© Flickr / Metropolico.org