“There is a new sheriff in the city”. So said the US vice -president JD Vance at the Monaco security conference. The obvious reference was to its president Donald Trump. The number two American during the summit attacked European leaders on two very thorny and topical issues: freedom of speech and immigration. Vance said he was worried “from the removal of common values by Europe”. A threat that defines “worse than that represented by China or Russia”.
“In Europe freedom of speech is in retreat”
According to the US vice -president, “in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, freedom of speech” is in retreat. A horizon that makes him think how much European democracies are substantially less fragile than many apparently fear “. In his intervention Vance summarizes some episodes that according to him demonstrate the backwarding in Europe of freedom of speech. “In front of courts that cancel elections (the reference is in the second round of the presidential elections in Romania, editor’s note), we must ask ourselves if we respect the appropriate high standards,” he said. But he also cited as examples the arrest of a man in Great Britain, because he protested in front of a clinic in which interruption interruption of pregnancy were practiced. And the condemnation of a campaign against Islam in which books of the Koran were burned in public in Sweden.
“You can’t force people to think like you”
“Many of you in this room recall the defenders of democracy against the most tyrannical forces of this continent during the Cold War. Considering the part that censored the dissidents, closed the churches, canceled the elections. They were the good ones? Of course no and for Luck have lost, “continued Vance. The vice -president therefore came to the dose against the EU leaders: “You cannot force people to think about it in a certain way, to hear or believe in a certain way. But when we look at Europe today, sometimes it is not clear what happened To some of the winners of the Cold War “.
The defense of freedom on social media
The number 2 of the White House continued its invective by taking the defenses of X, destination and all the American companies that control the social world. For Vance the European leaders “have threatened and bullied the companies to which social media are headed to censor the so -called disinformation”. According to the US vice -president, behind EU policies there are “people who do not like the idea that someone with an alternative point of view can express a different opinion, or God does not want to vote differently, or even win a election”.
The alternative
A solution to this apparent decline exists, however. For Vance an alternative exists: “I really believe that allowing our citizens to tell their opinion will make them (the democracies, ed.) Even stronger. There is no security if you are afraid of the voices, opinions and consciences that They guide your own people … if you are afraid of your own voters, America cannot do anything for you “.
“Munich’s attack? The result of political choices”
Vance also spoke of illegal immigration. In particular, for him the increase that has been recorded in Europe represents “a serious situation caused by conscious decisions taken by politicians within a decade”. The consequences? For the vice -president he uses the same attack of Monaco is a consequence of the policies taken in recent years: “What are the results of these decisions we have seen it yesterday in this city,” he said. “Why did this happen, how many times still has to happen?”, He asked rhetorical to those who listened to him. The mass migration is therefore “the most urgent challenge” that the western world has to face.
The attack on Greta Thunberg
“American democracy has survived 10 years of ‘reproaches’ of the activist for the climate Greta Thunberg, Europe can ‘survive a few months’ by Elon Musk”. Vance also found time during the Monaco conference to attack the young activist and instead defend the head of the new US efficiency department.
The future of NATO
In Monaco it was not possible to also speak of the war in Ukraine. Especially after the telephone interviews between Trump and Putin. With NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Vance reiterated that “Europe is a very important ally” and that a greater “sharing of charges” is hoped for NATO in the Old Continent. And the US vice -president also clarified why the request for greater commitment to military expenditure. The United States will move their interests “to some of our challenges in the Far East”, read China, and therefore want to leave the Russian-Ukraine war quagmire. But to do it “we want to make sure that NATO is actually built for the future and we think that an important part of this is to guarantee that NATO does a little more, shares the charges in Europe”, reiterated to Rutte.
Zelensky: “Interviews with Russia only after agreements between the USA and the EU”
That the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was annoyed by the telephone interview between Trump and Putin was clear, but the leader in Munich wanted to return to the matter: “Ukraine will talk to Russia only when Washington, Kiev and the European allies will have reached a position common”. Only after finding a unitary position “will we be ready to talk to the Russians,” said Zelensky.
Vance: “If Russia in bad faith, we will attack with soldiers and sanctions”. Moscow: “We want to explain”
In the morning, a Vance interview was released at the Wall Street Journal. The title showed that the US vice -president agreed to hit Russia with sanctions and also with a military action if Moscow had not reached a peace agreement that guaranteed Ukrainian independence. Consequently, the spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia expected “explanations”. Vance then intervened on X accusing the Wall Street Journal of misrepresented his words.
