Donald Trump’s travel ban on nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries sparked confusion, division and consternation in European capitals Monday, as officials scrambled to clarify the implications for EU citizens.
U.S. embassies across Europe advised that the ban would affect citizens who are dual nationals of the affected countries — effectively banning thousands of EU citizens from the bloc’s most important global ally.
But as the European Commission said Monday that it was receiving “conflicting” information about how the ban would be implemented, the U.K. — already heading for the EU exit door — risked further dismay in Brussels, Paris and Berlin by stealing a march and securing what Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described as a specific “exception” from the ban for U.K. passport holders with dual nationality. Speaking in the House of Commons Monday evening, he called the concession the fruits of “working closely with the Trump administration.”
The U.K. exemption was secured in phone calls between Johnson and senior White House advisors Sunday, an official in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. It was announced that same day and won generous newspaper headlines for the foreign secretary in the right-leaning Daily Telegraph and Sun newspapers.
But soon enough on Monday, the FCO’s own interpretation of Trump’s guidance started to look misguided, at best, particularly its claim that “if you are a dual citizen of one of those [seven affected] countries travelling to the U.S. from OUTSIDE those countries then the order does not apply to you.” Advice subsequently issued on the websites of U.S. embassies in London, Berlin and other European capitals said that all nationals and dual nationals of the seven affected countries should not apply for visas to the U.S.
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In London, the prime minister’s official spokesman was caught off guard by the new advice Monday morning during a daily briefing with journalists, who alerted him to it as it came through on their Twitter feeds. Meanwhile the European Commission admitted it was receiving “conflicting” information about the how the ban was being implemented.
Germany’s interior ministry said it believed the ban could apply to as many as 130,000 Germans with dual nationality, including about 80,000 German-Iranians. The U.S. embassy in Berlin posted a bulletin on Facebook, instructing dual nationals not to make a visa appointment, in wording identical to that used on the U.S. embassy in London’s website.
“If you already have an appointment scheduled, please DO NOT ATTEND your appointment as we will not be able to proceed with your visa interview,” the notice said.
France’s foreign ministry has also said that “several” dual nationality French citizens had been affected directly by the ban on January 29, without saying how or where.
Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s spokesman, was reduced to non-specific assurances that the Commission would “analyze” Trump’s executive order “to see how they can have an impact to EU nationals, something which is not clear.”
The confusion on the ground in Europe appeared to stem from a disconnect in Washington between the White House and the State Department, with Johnson’s guidance coming from the former, and the U.S. embassy’s from the latter.
EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was reported by Euractiv to be considering calling the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to clarify the situation. A European Commission spokeswoman told POLITICO: “In the context of the travel ban, there will be contact with the U.S. administration, but we cannot confirm that a phone call will take place.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said Monday she was consulting European partners and pledged to protect the interests of all German citizens traveling to the U.S.
But the fog lifted, in London at least, as Johnson arrived in the House of Commons chamber to update MPs on the situation Monday evening.
The foreign secretary joined the chorus of condemnation for the measures, expressing the U.K. government’s “anxiety about measures that discriminate on grounds of nationality in ways that are divisive and wrong.”
But to murmurs of approval from the Conservative benches, he confirmed that “all British passport holders” remained welcome to travel to the U.S and that irrespective of country of birth or dual nationality, Trump’s executive order would not affect Britons.
“Because of the energetic action of this government … we have an exception for U.K. passport holders whether dual nationals or otherwise,” Johnson said. “I think most fair minded people would say that shows the advantages of working closely with the Trump administration…to get the vital protections for UK passport holders that we need.”
In heated exchanges Johnson came under pressure for the government’s close embrace of the Trump administration.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who chairs the home affairs select committee, said that the ban was “not just about the impact on British citizens.”
“Has he urged the U.S. administration to lift this order, to help refugees and to stop targeting Muslims?” she asked Johnson, before adding, her voice shaking with emotion, “This order was signed on Holocaust Memorial Day. For the sake of history, for heaven’s sake have the guts to speak out.”
Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, who was criticized by MPs over the weekend for failing to condemn the travel ban despite repeated questions on Saturday, was branded “Theresa the appeaser” by Labour MP Mike Gapes. Dennis Skinner, the firebrand Labour veteran, was even blunter in his 1930s comparisons, branding Trump a “fascist.”
Nahal Toosi in Washington contributed to this article.