Vice President JD Vance publicly berated European leaders on a host of issues from free speech to security and mass migration, as simmering tensions between the United States and its close allies boiled over at an international conference in Munich on Friday.
The vice president used the podium at the high-level security gathering that had been focusing on the invasion of Ukraine and the threat Russia poses to Europe and the rest of the world to raise social issues animating many on the American right.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s not any external actor,” he said at the Munich Security Conference. “What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”
He added: “I’ve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from and of course, that’s important. But what has seemed a little bit less clear to me … is what exactly you’re defending yourselves for?”
The vice president’s comments were met with an icy reception and only scattered applause — and groans when he joked about how if American democracy could “survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius denounced Vance’s remarks during a session at the conference later in the day, saying in German that it was “not acceptable” that the U.S. vice president compared “the condition of Europe with the condition that prevails in some auto-authoritarian regimes.”
“This is not acceptable,” Pistorius said. “This is not the Europe, not the democracy where I live and where I conduct my election campaign right now. And this is not the democracy that I witness every day in our parliament. In our democracy, every opinion has a voice.”
“I was in the room in Munich for VP Vance’s speech,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., wrote in a post on X. “No talk about Russia, Ukraine, China. Just criticisms of our allies and focus on “the threat from within.” His speech is going to embolden our adversaries who will see this as a green light to act while America is distracted/divided.”
A rift between the U.S. and Europe had been growing after President Donald Trump was accused of excluding Kyiv and the continent from peace talks to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine.
Throughout the event, European leaders appeared to ramp up their criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of peace efforts.
“The new American administration has a very different world view to ours, one that has no regard for established rules, partnership and grown trust,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the conference Friday, prior to Vance’s comments.
“We have to accept that and we can deal with it. But I am convinced that it is not in the interests of the international community for this worldview to become the dominant paradigm,” said Steinmeier, whose post is largely ceremonial, according to Reuters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the world had reached a “moment in history” where “great challenges loom,” as she called on the international community to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for proving “he has given up” a bid to “destroy Ukraine.”
There is growing alarm across Europe after what Trump described as a “lengthy and highly productive” conversation with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump was accused of shutting Kyiv and Europe out of peace talks, while comments he made about the future of Ukraine prompted fear and anger in that country and across Europe.
Speaking at the security conference Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken with Trump and warned the American president not to believe Putin when he said he wanted to be part of a peace process.
“I said to him that he is a liar,” Zelenskyy said he told Trump about Putin, adding that he urged the U.S. president to increase pressure on Putin because, he said, “I don’t trust him.”
Zelenskyy said it’s important that no decisions about Ukraine are made without Ukraine. He also said that in his first phone call with Joe Biden, the then-president told him Ukraine could not join NATO. The United States “never saw us in NATO,” Zelenskyy told attendees. “They just spoke about it, but they really didn’t want us in NATO.”
Friday’s security conference comes amid growing concerns over what actions Moscow might take if it is handed a win in Ukraine, particularly amid Trump’s suggestions that the U.S. would not defend NATO allies if they are attacked.
Last year, NATO members had indicated that Ukraine was on an “irreversible path” to eventual membership in the alliance. But both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have indicated that NATO membership and Ukraine regaining lost territory are effectively off the table.
Earlier, Vance may have offered European allies some reassurance in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, warning that Russia could face more sanctions and even military action if it refuses to agree to a deal ensuring Ukraine‘s long-term independence.
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage,” Vance told the newspaper, describing the possible pressures the U.S. could apply. “There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence.”
He did not expand on those comments during his address at Friday’s security conference.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday condemned any plan for peace talks that does not involve Ukrainians and Europeans.
“A sham peace — over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans — would gain nothing,” Baerbock said in a statement as the security conference got underway. “A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States,” she said, according to Reuters.
Baerbock called for talks between U.S. and international partners to be held at the Munich conference, an annual gathering of political and military leaders, as well as diplomats.
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