Brazilian tourists wearing protective face masks queue with others to enter the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon on March 12, 2020. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)
The European Commission has issued a statement condemning President Donald Trump’s travel ban to 26 European countries, announced last night in a widely criticized speech.
“The Corona virus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” the statement said. “The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”
Countries excluded from the ban include the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, and Bulgaria.
It does not apply to legal permanent residents of the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security, and most of their family members.
The ban is set to start this Friday evening and last for 30 days. Over the same period, Congress will close the U.S. Capitol to the public, and the White House has canceled tours.
Trump’s speech came in the wake of the World Health Organization’s long-anticipated designation of the coronavirus as a pandemic.
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