Cracks appear to be expanding in the US-EU relationship as President Trump charges ahead with plans to bring peace to Ukraine and the Middle East with minimal European input.
At the same time Vice President J.D. Vance has rattled EU nations, warning that their greatest threat was not from Russia, but from within.
He virtually ignored Ukraine’s future at last week’s Munich Security Conference to accuse EU member nations of retreating from their values and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech.
He singled out their discrimination against Christians and urged a reversal of the EU’s ongoing crackdown on conservative voices and religious freedoms.
Mr. Vance noted that conservatives have been investigated, arrested, prosecuted or fined for protesting against abortion and posting their views on social media.
He received a stony-faced silence from European leaders, bristling from the attack by a 40-year-old American newbie on the world political stage.
“I come here today not just with an observation, but with an offer,” he added in an address also targeted at US consumption.
“Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that.”
“In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square.”
Vice President Vance criticised attempts to exclude populist parties from political collaboration, saying they pose a threat to democracy.
That was clearly directed at Germany’s established political parties to abandon their ‘firewall’ agreement not to cooperate with the AfD, the far-right Alternative for Germany which has surged in the polls ahead of this weekend’s snap national election in Germany.
He referred to recent suspected terrorist attacks in Germany, including one in Munich just before the conference.
“No voter in Europe went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of economic migrants,” he asserted.
AfD co-leader and candidate for Chancellor Alice Weidel hailed Mr. Vance’s address as an “excellent speech!.”
He held talks with her on the sidelines of the conference to the fury of Germany’s current Chancellor Olaf Scholz who accused Mr. Vance of “unacceptably interfering in his country’s coming elections.”
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said his speech was “not acceptable” and defended Europe’s approach to protecting democracy.
The Wall Street Journal quoted German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as saying: “It is clear that the new American administration holds a worldview that is very different from our own.”
He expressed concern that friction with Washington could weaken long-standing partnerships.
Last month, the EU introduced fresh measures to enforce the Digital Services Act, which limits speech on social media platforms, claiming it aimed to target “foreign interference” and “illegal content.”
It outraged American free speech advocates because it compels big tech companies to remove “illegal content” or face penalties of up to 6% of their global annual turnover.
Paul Coleman, executive director of the legal advocacy group ADF International, warned at the time that a “new bipolar order of speech” was unfolding.
“On the one hand, Europe is doubling down on censorship, while the US is recommitting to its free speech heritage,” he explained.
“I can tell you plainly: There can be no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the conscience that guide your own people,” Mr. Vance said in Munich.
“What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.”
His speech reinforced EU uncertainty about future American support, suggesting that governments curtailing religious freedom and free speech should not expect automatic US backing on security matters.
That’s unsettled European officials who are looking to recalibrate their approach in the face of the Trump administration’s unfolding Ukraine strategy.
Image: Screenshot – The White House
