JD Vance has said Europe’s “threat from within” is graver than that posed by Russia and China in a confrontational speech that hit out at alleged infringements of democracy and provoked a furious response from Germany.
In an address to the Munich Security Conference, the US vice-president criticised the cancellation of a recent election in Romania, the prosecution of an anti-abortion protester in the UK and the banning of extremist German politicians from the event itself.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said. “And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.”
European officials were alarmed by what they saw as Vance’s attempts to link US security backing for the continent to his comments about freedom of speech and democracy.
Speaking after Vance in the same forum, Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius labelled the criticism as “unacceptable”, adding he had no choice but to respond.
“I had a speech I prepared today,” Pistorius said. “It was supposed to be about security in Europe. But I cannot start in the way I originally intended . . . This democracy was called into question by the US vice-president.”
The German defence minister added: “He compares the condition of Europe with what is happening in autocracies. This is not acceptable.”
As dozens of European leaders, corporate executives and senior diplomats watched on grimly, Vance painted a picture of a continent where democracy was under threat from a disconnected elite.
“If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you,” he said.
In December, Romania’s constitutional court took the unprecedented step of annulling the country’s presidential vote, which had been unexpectedly won by the pro-Russian ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu.
The Romanian authorities have alleged the candidate’s political rise was orchestrated by Moscow but have yet to provide evidence of illegal campaign financing or other ways Russia is alleged to have meddled. A new vote is due in May.
“To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’,” Vance said.
Speaking just over a week before German elections, the US vice-president said there should be “no room for firewalls” in European politics.
Though he did not explicitly refer to Alternative for Germany, his comments were hailed by the far-right party, which polls suggest will claim second place in the February 23 election. “Excellent speech!” Alice Weidel, AfD co-leader, wrote on X.
Parts of the AfD have been designated as rightwing extremists by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency and the group has been barred from this week’s Munich conference, as has a populist leftwing party.
European officials in Munich were horrified at what they saw as Vance’s unfair and untrue claims, and his linking of US support to the allegations.
“It was mad, totally mad,” said one senior European diplomat. “And very dangerous.”
Some officials compared the speech with Vladimir Putin’s address at the same event in 2007, where the Russian president warned that Nato expansion risked conflict with Moscow.
Vance’s broadside came days after European leaders were blindsided by the Trump administration’s announcement that it would begin bilateral talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump’s move, which bypassed European capitals, has heightened concerns that the postwar security guarantee provided by the US is in danger of fraying under the new administration.
Vance said European allies planned to brief him on how they would increase their commitments to the continent’s collective defence. However, he said security would only come through addressing the array of social challenges he described.
“What has seemed a little bit less clear to me, and certainly I think to many of the citizens of Europe, is what exactly it is that you’re defending yourselves for,” the US vice-president said.
“What is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact that we all believe is so important?” he added. “And I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people.”
Vance also took aim at policies permitting mass migration in Europe, directly connecting the bloc’s immigration policies to an attack in Munich that injured 36 people on Thursday. “We saw the horrors wrought by these decisions yesterday in this very city,” he said.
A 24-year-old failed Afghan asylum seeker pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack, authorities said on Friday, as they suggested a likely Islamist motive.
Vance said: “More and more all over Europe, they are voting for people who promise to put to an end uncontrolled migration.”
He added: “Dismissing their concerns . . . shutting people out of the political process, protects nothing. In fact, it is the most sure-fire way of destroying democracy.”
The US vice-president also criticised the UK’s handling of a case in which a protester was convicted last year for praying near an abortion clinic. The man was within a 150-metre buffer zone around such centres in which abortion-related campaigning is banned.
