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US Vice-President JD Vance has launched a scalding attack on European democracies, saying the greatest threat facing the continent was not from Russia and China, but “from within”.<\/p>\n
It had been expected that Vance would use his speech at the Munich Security Conference to address possible talks to end the war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Instead, he spent the majority accusing European governments – including the UK’s – of retreating from their values, and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech.<\/p>\n
The address was met by silence in the hall, and later denounced by several politicians at the conference. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said it was “not acceptable”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Vance repeated the Trump administration’s line that Europe must “step up in a big way to provide for its own defence”.<\/p>\n
The Ukraine war was mentioned, with Vance saying he hoped a “reasonable settlement” could be reached, after US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement earlier this week that he and Russia’s Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin peace talks.<\/p>\n
But Vance’s address otherwise focused on culture-war issues and key themes of Trump’s campaign for the US presidency – a departure from the usual security and defence discussions at the annual conference.<\/p>\n
He alleged European Union “commissars” were suppressing free speech, blamed the continent for mass migration, and accused its leaders of retreating from “some of its most fundamental values”.<\/p>\n
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, characterised Vance as “trying to pick a fight” with Europe, home to some of the US’s closest allies.<\/p>\n
Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, told Politico Vance’s remarks were “insulting” and “just empirically not true”.<\/p>\n
Vance used his 20-minute speech to single out several European nations, including the UK.<\/p>\n
He raised a legal case in which an army veteran who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted<\/a> of breaching an 150-metre safe zone around the centre.<\/p>\n The safe zone, introduced in October 2022, bans activity in favour or against abortion services, including protests, harassment and vigils.<\/p>\n But Vance argued that the “basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular” were under threat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nine days before a tense national election in Germany, he touched on a heated debate in the country around mainstream political parties maintaining a so-called “firewall” of non-cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.<\/p>\n In the decades since democracy was restored in Germany after the defeat of the Nazis, there has been a consensus among its main political parties not to work with far-right parties.<\/p>\n “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters,” Vance said. “There’s no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principle or you don’t.”<\/p>\n The AfD’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, later shared parts of his speech on X, praising it as “excellent”. The two reportedly met afterwards, according to German public broadcaster ZDF.<\/p>\n In his own speech, Pistorius directly addressed Vance, saying: “Democracy was called into question by the US vice-president for the whole of Europe.<\/p>\n “He speaks of the annihilation of democracy,” Pistorius continued. “And if I have understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes… that is not acceptable.”<\/p>\n Vance also made reference to the presidential election in Romania, which was annulled in December after declassified documents suggested it had been targeted by Russian state interference<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vance told the conference: “If your democracy can be destroyed with a few $100,000 of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”<\/p>\n Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said his country remains “a defender of the democratic values that Europe shares with the USA”. <\/p>\n “All RO [Romanian] authorities are committed to organising free and fair elections by empowering citizens and guaranteeing the freedom to vote,” he wrote on X.<\/p>\n Vance later met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the conference, which has otherwise mainly focussed on Russia’s full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n Zelensky said during the meeting that more work was needed on planning to end the fighting, while Vance said the pair shared a “fruitful” conversation.<\/p>\n Trump had said US, Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet in Munich, but Moscow has said it is not sending a delegation to the summit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n