The Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has condemned the US decision to deny entry to Flemish socialist leader Conner Rousseau, calling for a diplomatic de-escalation between Belgium and the United States.
On Friday night, US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White confirmed that Conner Rousseau, the president of the Vooruit party, was officially barred from entering the United States.
The ban follows a video Rousseau posted on Instagram earlier this week comparing recent violent actions by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the rise of Nazism in the 1930s.
Ambassador White had previously urged the Belgian government to reprimand Rousseau for his remarks before announcing the entry ban.
Minister Maxime Prévot expressed strong opposition to the decision, stating, “I condemn the very idea that a parliamentarian and party president could face an entry ban for exercising their freedom of expression.” He further criticised what he described as a contradiction with America’s professed commitment to promoting freedom of expression in Europe.
Prévot confirmed that his department would contact US authorities to clarify the specifics of the decision.
Diplomatic strains with Ambassador White also arose earlier in the week after he described a Belgian judicial investigation into Jewish ritual circumcisers, or mohels, as antisemitic.
