Europe slams US visa bans

The European Union, France and Germany condemned US visa bans on five Europeans combating online hate and disinformation on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump's administration took its latest swipe at long-standing allies across the Atlantic.

According to Reuters, Washington imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton. 

It accuses them of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly target US tech giants with burdensome regulation.

The bans mark a fresh escalation against Europe, a region Washington argues is fast becoming irrelevant due to its weak defences, inability to tackle immigration, needless red tape and "censorship" of far-right and nationalist voices to keep them from power.

They come just weeks after a US National Security Strategy document warned Europe faced "civilizational erasure" and must course-correct if it is to remain a reliable US. ally.

That document - and other comments by senior Trump officials, including a bombshell February speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munich - have upended postwar assumptions about Europe's close relationship with its strongest ally, and concentrated minds across European capitals on the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on US technology and defence.

In Brussels, Paris and Berlin, senior officials condemned the US bans, and defended Europe's right to legislate on how foreign companies operate locally.

A European Commission spokesperson said it "strongly condemns the US decision", adding: "Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world."