The French government on Monday condemned the US travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump's administration on former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who helped pass the EU's Digital Services Act, which also affects a number of leading US technology companies, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
"France strongly condemns the visa restrictions imposed by the US on Thierry Breton – former minister and European Commissioner, as well as four other prominent European figures," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on the social network "Ex".
The Trump administration has imposed visa restrictions on Breton and other individuals linked to anti-disinformation campaigns, which it claims, as part of a campaign against European rules, participated in censoring American social networks.
Breton - former French Finance Minister and European Commissioner for the Internal Market in the period 2019-2024 - is the most prominent figure with an access ban.
US Deputy Secretary of State Sarah Rogers, when imposing the restrictions yesterday, said that Breton was "the brain" behind the EU Digital Services Act, which Barrot also defended this morning.
"The Digital Services Act was democratically adopted in Europe to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online. It has absolutely no extraterritorial scope and in no way concerns the US", the French foreign minister wrote in "Ex".
Breton himself also condemned the visa ban imposed on him.