Europe is facing a crisis of its own making—it fears its own voters, and in this state, it holds little value for the United States. This was stated by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance during his speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Europe is confronted with numerous challenges, but the crisis that the continent is currently facing, one that I believe we all face together, has been created by us. If you fear your own voters, America has nothing to offer you, just as you have nothing to offer the American people who elected me and President Trump. You need a democratic mandate to achieve something significant in the coming years.
Vance noted that European governments "need to be more responsive to their own citizens." According to Vance, the main threat to Europe's security does not come from Russia or China, but rather from within Europe itself.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is "very concerned about European security and confident that an acceptable resolution can be achieved between Ukraine and Russia."
The threat that worries me most regarding Europe is not Russia, not China; it does not come from outside. I am concerned about the internal threat—the departure of Europe from some fundamental values it shares with the United States.
According to Vance, some statements made by politicians in Europe "shock Americans." Americans are astonished to see EU officials threatening blocking and sanctions for "hate speech."
Unfortunately, I do not always understand what has happened to the victors of the Cold War. I was in Brussels. Some commissioners warn that certain media outlets may be shut down to prevent the spread of harmful calls to violence or to preempt anti-feminist speeches.
He mentioned Germany, where one can be fined for criticizing feminists online. And the United Kingdom, where a local resident was fined for praying near an abortion clinic.
Democracy in European countries is not as strong as it is often believed, according to the U.S. Vice President.
Now, of course, the situation has deteriorated to the point that in December of last year, Romania simply annulled the results of its presidential elections based on inconclusive suspicions from the intelligence service and immense pressure from its continental neighbors.
As far as I understand, the argument was that Romanian elections were affected by Russian disinformation, but I would ask my European friends to look at the situation from another perspective.
You may consider it wrong when Russia buys social media ads to influence your elections. We certainly think so. You may condemn this even on the global stage. But if your democracy can be undermined by a few hundred thousand dollars in digital ads from another country, then it was never very strong to begin with...
And I truly believe that if we allow our citizens to express their opinions, they will become even stronger, which, of course, brings us back to Munich, where the organizers of this very conference banned lawmakers representing populist parties from both the left and right from participating in these discussions.
Vance stated that the main issue for Europe and the U.S. is mass migration.
This did not arise from nowhere; it is the result of political decisions. The horrors of yesterday's terrorist attack in Munich are also a consequence of these decisions.
No voter voted to open the gates for millions of migrants. But they did vote for something. In England, they voted for Brexit, and increasing numbers across Europe are voting for politicians who promise to put an end to mass migration.
My message is—do not fear the future, fulfill the will of the people, even if you disagree with them. Democracy is not about nice buildings and hotels; democracy is about every citizen having a voice, having wisdom. Do not be afraid; we should not fear our people, even when they criticize our leaders.
A few words were dedicated by J.D. Vance to billionaire Elon Musk, who has become almost a right-hand man to Donald Trump.
If the U.S. could endure 10 years of messages about Greta Thunberg, you can handle a few months of posts from Elon Musk. Democracy is based on the principle that people's voices must be heard; they cannot be silenced.
As reported by "Podrobnosti," Trump tasked Musk with auditing Pentagon and education expenditures.