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<\/p>\nThe United States Vice President JD Vance delivered a speech that stunned Europe, at the 61st Munich Security Conference. In his speech, Vance criticized the European Union leaders for what he described as backsliding on freedom of speech and democracy.<\/p>\n
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Even before the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump, European leaders were anxiously deliberating what the possible return of the U.S. leader would mean for the future of the NATO alliance and the Russia-Ukraine war. But a series of speeches, phone calls, and decisions surrounding the recent Munich Security Conference have only confirmed their worst fears.<\/p>\n
Tensions were high even before the conference kicked off, after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that two of Kyiv\u2019s objectives\u2014joining NATO and restoring Ukraine\u2019s territory to its pre-2014 borders\u2014were not realistic. Shortly after his remarks, Trump announced that he had held a nearly 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the U.S. president appeared to independently offer the Russian leader major concessions for negotiations, alarming both Kyiv and European leaders.<\/p>\n
Then came the Munich Security Conference. On February 13, as conference attendees began to arrive for the event due to start next day, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker drove a car into a crowd in Munich in a suspected attack, killing at least two people and injuring at least 37 others.<\/p>\n
On February 14, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance ignited a firestorm. In a fiery and brave speech, Vance declared that \u201cthere is nothing more urgent than mass migration<\/em>\u201d and accused European leaders of suppressing free speech\u2014including by referencing Germany\u2019s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which German intelligence has classified as extremist. The biggest security threat facing Europe was not Russia or China, he said, but the \u201cthreat from within<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEurope faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making<\/em>,\u201d he said to the gobsmacked European leaders.<\/p>\n Full transcript of the speech<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWell, thank you, and thanks to all the gathered delegates and luminaries and media professionals.<\/p>\n And thanks especially to the hosts of the Munich Security Conference for being able to put on such an extraordinary event. We\u2019re, of course, thrilled to be here. We\u2019re happy to be here.<\/p>\n And, you know, one of the aspects that I wanted to talk about today is, of course, our shared values.<\/p>\n And, you know, it\u2019s great to be back in Germany. As you heard earlier, I was here last year as a United States senator. I saw Foreign Minister\u2014excuse me, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and joked that both of us last year had different jobs than we have now.<\/p>\n But now it\u2019s time for all of our countries, for all of us who have been fortunate enough to be given political power by our respective peoples, to use it wisely to improve their lives.<\/p>\n And I want to say that, you know, I was fortunate in my time here to spend some time outside the walls of this conference over the last 24 hours, and I\u2019ve been so impressed by the hospitality of the people, even, of course, as they\u2019re reeling from yesterday\u2019s horrendous attack.<\/p>\n And the first time I was ever in Munich was with my wife, actually, who\u2019s here with me today, on a personal trip. And I\u2019ve always loved the city of Munich, and I\u2019ve always loved its people.<\/p>\n And I just want to say that we\u2019re very moved, and our thoughts and prayers are with Munich and everybody affected by the evil inflicted on this beautiful community. We\u2019re thinking about you, we\u2019re praying for you, and we will certainly be rooting for you in the days and weeks to come.<\/p>\n Now\u2014[applause]\u2014thank you. I hope that\u2019s not the last bit of applause that I get, but\u2014[laughter].<\/p>\n We gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security. And normally, we mean threats to our external security. I see many great military leaders gathered here today.<\/p>\n But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it\u2019s important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense, the threat that I worry the most about vis-\u00e0-vis<\/em> Europe is not Russia, it\u2019s not China, it\u2019s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values\u2014values shared with the United States of America.<\/p>\n Now, I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if events don\u2019t go to plan, the very same act could happen in Germany, too.<\/p>\n Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years, we\u2019ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values.<\/p>\n Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy, but when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we\u2019re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. And I say \u201courselves<\/em>\u201d because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We need to do more than talk about democratic values. We need to live them.<\/p>\n Now, within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not, and thank God they lost the Cold War.<\/p>\n They lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty, the freedom to surprise, to make mistakes, to invent, to build.<\/p>\n As it turns out, you can\u2019t mandate innovation or creativity, just as you can\u2019t force people what to think, what to feel, or what to believe. And we believe those aspects are certainly connected.<\/p>\n And unfortunately, when I look at Europe today, it\u2019s sometimes not so clear what occurred to some of the Cold War\u2019s winners.<\/p>\n I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down virtual communication networks during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they\u2019ve judged to be, quote, \u201chateful content<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Or to this very country, where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of, quote, \u201ccombating misogyny on the internet, a day of action<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n I look to Sweden, where, two weeks ago, the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Quran<\/em> burnings that resulted in his friend\u2019s murder. And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden\u2019s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant\u2014and I\u2019m quoting\u2014\u201ca free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n And perhaps most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes\u2014not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own.<\/p>\n And after British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied, simply, it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before.<\/p>\n Now, the officers were not moved. Adam was found guilty of breaking the government\u2019s new \u201cbuffer zones<\/em>\u201d law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could \u201cinfluence<\/em>\u201d a person\u2019s decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility. He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution.<\/p>\n Now, I wish I could say that this was a fluke\u2014a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But, no, this last October, just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called \u201csafe access zones<\/em>,\u201d warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law.<\/p>\n Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thoughtcrime.<\/p>\n In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.<\/p>\n And in the interest of comity, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied virtual communication companies to censor so-called misinformation\u2014misinformation like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.<\/p>\n So, I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer. And just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking up, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that.<\/p>\n In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump\u2019s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree.<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re at the point, of course, that the situation has gotten so bad that, this December, Romania straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors.<\/p>\n Now, as I understand it, the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections, but I\u2019d ask my European friends to have some perspective. You can believe it\u2019s wrong for Russia to buy advertisements on virtual communication platforms, 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\u2019t very strong to begin with. [Applause.]<\/p>\n Now, the good news is that I think your democracies are substantially less brittle than many people apparently fear, and I really do believe that allowing our citizens to speak up will make them stronger still.<\/p>\n Which, of course, brings us back to Munich, where the organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations.<\/p>\n Now, again, we don\u2019t have to agree with everything or anything that people say, but when people represent\u2014when political leaders represent an important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them.<\/p>\n Now, 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 \u201cmisinformation<\/em>\u201d and \u201cdisinformation<\/em>,\u201d who simply don\u2019t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion, or, God forbid, vote a different way, or, even worse, win an election.<\/p>\n Now, this is a security conference, and I\u2019m sure you all came here prepared to talk about how exactly you intend to increase defense spending over the next few years in line with some new target. And that\u2019s great, because as President Trump has made abundantly clear, he believes that our European friends need to play a bigger role in the future of this continent. We don\u2019t think\u2014you hear this term, \u201cburden sharing<\/em>,\u201d but we think it\u2019s an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger.<\/p>\n But let me also ask you, how will you even begin to think through the kinds of budgeting questions if we don\u2019t know what it is that we\u2019re defending in the first place?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve heard a lot already in my conversations\u2014and I\u2019ve had many, many great conversations with many people gathered here in this room\u2014I\u2019ve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from, and, of course, that\u2019s important. But 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\u2019re defending yourselves for. What is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact that we all believe is so important?<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people who elected me and elected President Trump.<\/p>\n You need democratic mandates to accomplish anything of value in the coming years. Have we learned nothing, that thin mandates produce unstable results? But there is so much of value that can be accomplished with the kind of democratic mandate that I think will come from being more responsive to the voices of your citizens.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to enjoy competitive economies, if you\u2019re going to enjoy affordable energy and secure supply chains, then you need mandates to govern, because you have to make difficult choices to enjoy all of these aspects. And, of course, we know that very well in America.<\/p>\n You cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail\u2014whether that\u2019s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news. Nor can you win one by disregarding your basic electorate on questions like who gets to be a part of our shared society.<\/p>\n And of all the pressings\u2014challenges that the nations represented here face, I believe there is nothing more urgent than mass migration.<\/p>\n Today, almost one in five people living in this country moved here from abroad. That is, of course, an all-time high. It\u2019s a similar number, by the way, in the United States\u2014also an all-time high.<\/p>\n The number of immigrants who entered the EU from non-EU countries doubled between 2021 and 2022 alone. And, of course, it\u2019s gotten much higher since.<\/p>\n And we know the situation, it didn\u2019t materialize in a vacuum. It\u2019s the result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the continent, and others across the world, over the span of a decade.<\/p>\n We saw the horrors wrought by these decisions yesterday in this very city. And, of course, I can\u2019t bring it up again without thinking about the terrible victims who had a beautiful winter day in Munich ruined. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and will remain with them. But why did this occur in the first place?<\/p>\n It\u2019s a terrible story, but it\u2019s one we\u2019ve heard way too many times in Europe and, unfortunately, too many times in the United States as well: an asylum-seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s, already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community.<\/p>\n How many times should we suffer these appalling setbacks before we shift course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?<\/p>\n No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants. But you know what they did vote for? In England, they voted for Brexit. And agree or disagree, they voted for it. And more and more, all over Europe, they\u2019re voting for political leaders who promise to put an end to out-of-control migration.<\/p>\n Now, I agree with a lot of these concerns, but you don\u2019t have to agree with me. I just think that people care about their homes. They care about their dreams. They care about their safety and their capacity to provide for themselves and their children.<\/p>\n And they\u2019re smart. I think this is one of the most important elements I\u2019ve learned in my brief time in politics. Contrary to what you might hear a couple mountains over in Davos, the citizens of all of our nations don\u2019t generally think of themselves as educated animals or as interchangeable cogs of a global economy, and it\u2019s hardly surprising that they don\u2019t want to be shuffled about or relentlessly ignored by their leaders.<\/p>\n And it is the business of democracy to adjudicate these big questions at the ballot box.<\/p>\n I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or, worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections, or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy.<\/p>\n And speaking up and expressing opinions isn\u2019t election interference, even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential.<\/p>\n And trust me, I say this with all humor, if American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg\u2019s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.<\/p>\n But what German democracy\u2014what no democracy, American, German, or European\u2014will 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.<\/p>\n Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There is no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principle or you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n Europeans, the people have a voice. European leaders have a choice. And my strong belief is that we do not need to be afraid of the future.<\/p>\n You can embrace what your people tell you, even when it\u2019s surprising, even when you don\u2019t agree. And if you do so, you can face the future with certainty and with confidence, knowing that the nation stands behind each of you.<\/p>\n And that, to me, is the great magic of democracy. It\u2019s not in these stone buildings or beautiful hotels. It\u2019s not even in the great institutions that we have built together as a shared society.<\/p>\n To believe in democracy is to understand that each of our citizens has wisdom and has a voice. And if we refuse to listen to that voice, even our most successful fights will secure very little.<\/p>\n As Pope John Paul II\u2014in my view, one of the most extraordinary champions of democracy on this continent or any other\u2014once said, \u201cDo not be afraid<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n We shouldn\u2019t be afraid of our people, even when they express views that disagree with their leadership.<\/p>\n Thank you all. Good luck to all of you.<\/p>\n God bless you. [Applause.]\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-14-e1740158787896-300x188.jpg\")
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