Esra Kaymak
17 January 2017•Update: 17 January 2017
PARIS
French President Francois Hollande said Monday the European Union did not need advice from outsiders, in a harsh response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks over the weekend.
"Europe will be prepared to go ahead with transatlantic cooperation, but it will based upon its own interests and values," the president said during a ceremony for the outgoing U.S. ambassador Jane Hartley. "It does not need advice from the outside on what to do."
The statement comes a day after the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told London’s Sunday Times that NATO was ‘obsolete’ and the EU would eventually break apart.
"People want their own identity, so if you ask me, others, I believe others will leave," Trump said while answering a question on Britain’s approaching exit from the bloc.
Trump also criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for making a "very catastrophic mistake" by allowing refugees into EU countries.
According to Pew Research Center, refugees from Syria numbered 378,000 in 2015, accounting for 29 percent of all of Europe’s asylum seekers – the highest share of any nation. This was up from 125,000 in 2014 and 49,000 in 2013.
Trump has been a staunch supporter of better border control and a new immigration policy for the U.S. He has pledged to build a wall on the southern border and ban people from terror-affected countries from entering the country.
