Vance speech in Munich: Europe's press reacts
Looking back at the 61st Munich Security Conference, European media are homing in on the speech given by JD Vance. In it the US Vice President said that the greatest danger for Europe comes not from Russia or China but from within, accusing Europe of turning its back on its most fundamental values. What is happening with the transatlantic relationship?
A continent in need of heroes
Europe must now go its own way, preferably with a new leading figure, Delo advises:
“The US and Europe no longer share the same values. The resulting lack of common goals is making cooperation increasingly difficult, and the two are drifting apart. After almost 75 years, Europe will be forced to break away from the US - a painful but necessary separation. ... Europe will have to find its own path based on the values of the European integration project and seek out new allies with similar values. Due to internal problems, however, it is unclear who will lead this transition and how. The greatest crises often produce the greatest heroes, and hopefully this will soon be true of Europe as well.”
Time to take off the blinkers
Trump and his seconds-in-command have confronted Europe with some uncomfortable truths, writes Göteborgs-Posten:
“The lofty assertions about the importance of being 'decent' and 'resisting' Vance's message are now echoing the one-eyed marginalising moralism that dominated the public debate during the migration crisis. It took years for outrage, the denial of platforms for opponents and emotional arguments to be replaced by the tacit acceptance of reality as it is - the disastrous consequences of which we are now seeing on Sweden's streets. Acknowledging Europe's problems is not being 'Putin-friendly' but a necessity if Europe wants to continue to defend democracy in the world.”
Tirades against the external and internal enemy
The Trump administration wants the EU to disintegrate, eldiario.es suspects:
“Formally, the European constitutional state is an external enemy, but materially it is an internal enemy. It presents an alternative to the project advocated by the American far right which must therefore be resolutely defeated. This is what sets the EU apart from all the other countries in the world. ... Hence the need to put an end to it. ... It is more than foreseeable that the US will approach every single EU member state with the aim of maintaining a bilateral relationship. ... What is at stake now is the very survival of the EU. ... Either we face up to the situation now or we will witness the disintegration of the Union.”
War of ideologies
Sabah draws historical comparisons:
“After the geopolitical earthquake triggered by Trump's and Hegseth's outbursts Brussels has now been subjected to a veritable ideological tsunami in the form of Vance's cultural and political rebuke: Donald Trump's phone call in which he discussed the fate of Ukraine with Vladimir Putin will go down in history as the second Yalta Conference - the first took place in 1945 and saw Europe divided into spheres of influence between Russia and the US. ... And James David Vance's speech seems to have had the same effect as that of then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on 5 March 1946, when he used the term 'Iron Curtain' for the first time, igniting the Cold War between the USSR and the West. Vance's speech in Munich has also triggered an ideological war: between the US and Europe.”
Not out of the blue
Vance was not entirely wrong on some points, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“Who could seriously deny that uncontrolled mass immigration has become a major problem in Europe? The fact that an attack took place in Munich as the conference was about to start speaks for itself. Other examples he cited did not come out of the blue either. The fact that a presidential election in Romania, an EU and Nato member, was cancelled on flimsy grounds is worrying and has been accepted far too nonchalantly in Europe. And the fact that the AfD and BSW were not allowed to take part in the Munich conference despite their popularity among voters doesn't exactly testify to pluralistic discourse.”
Ignoring his own country's history
The US should remember its own history, advises lawyer Andrij Mahera in a Facebook post republished by Telegraph:
“When the vice president of what is still the world's most powerful country tells Europe that it 'doesn't have democracy' because it bans Russian propaganda resources, one should not hesitate to remind him of US history. In particular, how Nazi newspapers and organisations were banned in the United States during World War II. Not to mention the repression suffered by ethnic Japanese, or why the Martin Luther King movement emerged later on. ... It's a shame that no one in Munich rubbed this cheeky Yale law graduate's beard with historical facts.”
The outrage will sadly fade
Correio da Manhã does not believe that Europe will jeopardise its alliance with the US:
“The days when America was Europe's guarantor of freedoms and rights against the threat of totalitarianism are long gone. Vance comes from an isolationist America that views the world through the selfish lens of a green grocer or construction worker. But this is also a sign that the big global game no longer has old Europe as its stage or protagonist. And Europe's weak leaders may rail against Vance or Putin, but in the end they will go along with whatever Trump decides.”
Continent poised for a relaunch
Exiled Russian political activist Andrei Pivovarov makes a positive prognosis for Europe in a Telegram post picked up by Echo:
“In the short term, the EU may indeed become weaker, but in the next phase we will likely see a new round of consolidation. Europe will begin to develop its own, more rigid policies that are less orientated towards transatlantic relations. In this context, Zelensky's idea of a common European army no longer seems unrealistic. ... I assume that, regardless of the outcome of the German elections, we will soon see a new unification of Europe.”