BRUSSELS, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday underlined that the bloc will continue to host refugees, saying the Trump administration's ban on them "is not the European way."
"This is not the European way, the European Union will continue to first of all to take care and host Syrian refugees and others who are fleeing from war. " Mogherini said at a press conference following a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borg Brende.
She underscored that the EU is first donor for Syrians and it's financing school for them as well as job opportunities and humanitarian assistance.
"The European Union strongly believes in a system that is based on international rules and norms, full respect of all individuals, regardless of their religion, of their ethnic background or their country or nationality or gender and we will continue to be this way," she said.
Mogherini noted that the EU will "continue to work in a sense of cooperation and respect with all the countries of the region, regardless of the religion of their population."
"This is the European Union's way, and I am convinced this is also the European way," she stressed.
Under the executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, refugees from all over the world will be suspended from entering the United States for 120 days while all immigration from so-called "countries with terrorism concerns" will be suspended for 90 days.
Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The total population from these countries exceeds 130 million.
The ban sparked chaos across U.S. international airports and continuous protests nationwide in the past days.
The ban triggered angry responses even in Britain, an intimate ally of the United States.
A petition calling on the British government to cancel a planned state visit to Britain by Trump has been signed by more than a million people.
The petition, launched by solicitor Graham Guest after Trump signed the executive order, grows by thousands of new signatures every hour, but Downing Street has insisted the visit by the U.S. president will go ahead.
