The Vice President of the USA JD Vance gives his speech during the 61st Munich Safety Conference (MSC) in Munich in southern Germany on February 14, 2025.
Thomas Kienzle AFP Getty Images
European leaders came together on Friday after the US vice president JD Vance raised the democratic institutions of the continent, warning that his greatest threats come from internal factors.
“The threat that I am most worried about VIS and Europe is not Russia, they are not China, this is no other external actor. I'm worried about the threat from the inside, “said Security Munich conference.
“Europe's retreat from some of the most basic values, the values shared with the United State of America,” continued the reception of delegates.
Global defense and security officials are gathered in Munich in Germany for an annual three -day conference. The future of Ukraine, peace conversations with Russia and the evolving architecture of security and defense is all In the foreground of the discussion.
Participants hoped for details from Vance Peace talks conducted by the USA To end the war in Ukraine, which was filed at the beginning of this week by US President Donald Trump.
Instead, they faced criticism from the American vice president for the health of their democracy, migration policy and freedom of speech.
“I'm afraid that in Great Britain and all of Europe freedom of speech is in isolation,” said Vance.
The German defense minister Boris Pistorius, who turned to the delegates shortly after Vance, called his comments “unacceptable”.
“I had a speech that I prepared today,” said Pistorius. “This was to apply to security in Europe. But I can't start in the way I originally intended. “
“This democracy was questioned by the US Vice President,” he continued. “He talks about the annulment of democracy and, if I understood him correctly, compares the conditions in parts of Europe with authoritarian rule.”
In particular, Vance questioned the December presidential vote in Romania, which was annulled after the pro -Russian ultra -ultranational candidate won the nervous victory. The authorities described voting as a result of Russian interfering.
“There is no security if you are afraid of voices, opinions and conscience that guide your own people,” said Vance. “If you run for fear of your own voters, they can't do anything for you.”
Vance quoted Brexit as the will of the people, and he criticized Sweden and Germany for their response to politically accused national issues.
Of all the burning problems of the nations represented in Munich, Vance said, none was more urgent than mass migration.
“They vote for people more and more often throughout Europe who promise to put an end to uncontrolled migration,” said Vance.
Comments of the vice president landed particularly hard in a country where migration and xenophobia are strong forces shaping national policy.
On Thursday, at least 36 people were injured when the car got into the crowd in Munich, and officials claim that on Friday, that the 24-year-old did not succeed in the Afghan asylum seemingly, he confessed to the attack. A previous attack on the Christmas market is followed in the German city of Magdeburg in December.
Next week, the Germans go to surveys in the national elections of SNAP, and the far -right alternative to Germany (AfD) expected significant benefits.