French President Francois Hollande has brushed off stinging criticism of Germany’s liberal migrant policy by US President-elect Donald Trump. “[Europe] has no need for outside advice to tell it what it has to do,” Mr Hollande said.
Mr Trump had accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of “a catastrophic mistake” in allowing mass migration.
Mrs Merkel said the EU should decide for itself and US State Secretary John Kerry questioned Mr Trump’s remark.
“I thought, frankly, it was inappropriate for a president-elect of the United States to be stepping into the politics of other countries in a quite direct manner,” he told CNN.
“He’ll have to speak for that. As of Friday [when Mr Trump is inaugurated as president] he’s responsible for that relationship.”
Mr Trump also caused alarm among Nato leaders by saying the alliance was “obsolete”, and he threatened German car makers with high import tariffs if they moved production to Mexico.
‘Declaration of war’
In an interview for UK and German press, Mr Trump said the EU had become “basically a vehicle for Germany”.
Referring to the German chancellor’s response to an influx of refugees and other irregular migrants in 2015, when more than a million people were accepted, he said: “I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals…”
Mrs Merkel responded by saying the EU had to take responsibility for itself. “We Europeans have our fate in our own hands,” she said in Berlin.
In Paris, Mr Hollande said the EU was “ready to pursue transatlantic cooperation” but it would be based on “its interests and values”.
He spoke as he was decorating the outgoing US Ambassador, Jane Hartley, with the Legion of Honour.
Another French Socialist politician, Mr Hollande’s former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, said Mr Trump’s remarks constituted a “declaration of war on Europe”. Mr Valls is trailing his party rivals in the race to stand for president in French elections later this year.
The far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, a Trump admirer, is expected to do well in the first round.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.