US Vice President Says Biggest Threat Facing Europe Comes ‘From Within,’ Sparking Criticism

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has said that the biggest threat facing Europe comes “from within,” not from Russia and China, accusing Europe of disregarding voters and enabling censorship of alternative views.

In an address that quickly sparked criticism, Vance said at the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday that “what no democracy – American, German, or European – will survive, is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of even being considered.”

The vice president said that “free speech is in retreat” in European democracies and criticized the unwillingness of politicians in some countries to work with certain parties, adding that there is “no room for firewalls”.

The comment appeared to refer to a longstanding agreement among Germany’s major political parties to refuse to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is polling in second place ahead of German parliamentary elections on February 23.

Billionaire U.S. businessman Elon Musk, the biggest donor to President Donald Trump’s election effort and now head of a task force looking to cut U.S. government spending, has publicly backed the AfD.

A German government spokesperson said earlier on Friday that the U.S. vice president should not interfere in the country’s election campaign, adding: “It is good practice for the citizens of a country to decide who they vote for and what their principles are, and not to take advice from others.”

Other Topics of Interest

Trump Pressuring Zelensky, while Europe Seeks a United Response

Trump steps up pressure on Kyiv, Zelensky stands firm, and Europe still dithers.

Vance questions strength of EU democracies

On stage in Munich, Vance accused Europe of retreating from some of its most fundamental values, pointing to a decision by Romania’s top court to annul the country’s presidential election result last year over accusations of Russian meddling.

Vance said: “When we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard.”

He added: “You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage even, but if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”

Vance also appeared to compare the actions of European countries today to those of the authoritarian USSR during the Cold War, eliciting a sharp response from German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

‘Unacceptable’ remarks

Diverting from his planned speech, Pistorius said that the U.S. vice president’s comments were “unacceptable.”

Pistorius said: “This democracy was just called into question by the U.S. vice president, not just the German democracy but that of Europe as a whole.”

“If I understand him correctly, he compares the condition of Europe with what prevails in some authoritarian regimes… this is unacceptable,” he added.

The German defense minister went on to say that after Thursday’s car ramming attack in Munich, far-right politicians were being interviewed on German TV – not being silenced, as Vance suggested.

‘Picking a fight’ with Europe

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the speech by Vance felt as if the United States was trying to “pick a fight” with Europe.

“Listening to that speech, they try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to a pick a fight with our friends,” Kallas said at the Munich conference.

She added that allies should be focusing on bigger threats like Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.

Polish PM weighs in

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, meanwhile, weighed in on Vance’s use of a quote by the late Polish-born Pope John Paul II in his closing remarks.

Posting on social media, Tusk said: “Everyone who quotes the words of John Paul II, “BE NOT AFRAID”, should remember that they were meant to strengthen the Polish nation in its resistance against the Russian domination.”