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The American vice president JD Vance pronounces his speech during the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 14, 2025.
Thomas Kienzle | AFP | Getty images
The European leaders staggered on Friday after the American vice president JD Vance criticized the democratic institutions of the continent, warning that their greatest threats come from internal factors.
“The threat that worries me the most for Vis to Europe is not Russia, it is not China, it is not any other external actor. What worries me is the threat from the inside,” he told Munich’s security conference.
“The withdrawal of Europe of some of its most fundamental values, the values shared with the United State of America,” he continued, to a cold reception of the delegates.
Global defense and security officials meet in Munich, Germany, for the three -day annual conference. The future of Ukraine, Peace Conversations with Russia and the Evolution Security and Defense Architecture of Europe are all To the first of the discussions.
Attendees had been waiting for vance details in Peace conversations led by the United States To end the war in Ukraine, which were presented earlier this week by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
On the other hand, they faced the criticisms of the American vice president for the health of their democracies, their migration policies and freedom of expression.
“In Great Britain and throughout Europe, freedom of expression, I’m afraid, is in retirement,” Vance said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who addressed the delegates shortly after Vance, described his comments as “unacceptable.”
“I had a speech that I prepared today,” said Pistorius. “It was supposed to be about security in Europe. But I can’t start in the way I originally intended.”
“This democracy was questioned by the American vice president,” he continued. “He talks about the cancellation of democracy and, if I understood it correctly, compare the conditions in parts of Europe with those of authoritarian governments.”
Specifically, Vance questioned a presidential vote in December in Romania that was annulled after an ultra-nationalist candidate won an annoying victory. The authorities described the vote as the result of Russian interference.
“There is no security if you are afraid of voices, opinions and consciousness that guides their own people,” Vance said. “If you are running for fear of your own voters, there is nothing that the United States can do for you.”
Vance quoted Brexit as the will of the people, and criticized Sweden and Germany for their responses to domestic problems with political burden.
Of all the pressing problems faced by the nations represented in Munich, said Vance, none was more urgent than mass migration.
“Increasingly, throughout Europe, they vote for people who promise to put an end to unofficial migration,” Vance said.
The comments of the vice president landed especially in a country where migration and xenophobia are powerful forces that shape national policy.
On Thursday, at least 36 people were injured when a car got into a crowd in Munich, and the authorities said Friday that a 24 -year -old Afghan asylum seeker had admitted to having carried out the attack. Follow a previous attack in a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg in December.
Next week, the Germans are aimed at the surveys for the National Elections of SNAP, with the Alternative of Extrem Right to the Germany Party (AFD) that is expected to obtain considerable profits.
