U.S. Vice President JD Vance was critical of American allies while addressing attendees at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Friday. Photo by Ronald Wittek/EPA-EFE
Feb. 14 (UPI) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance was critical of American allies while addressing attendees at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Friday.
Vance, who is at the conference along with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said external threats are not currently top of mind.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe, it’s not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” the vice president said during an address to conference members.
“What I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”
Vance cited the situation in Romania where the country’s court system annulled an election over accusations of Russian interference.
“We must do more than talk about democratic values, we must live them,” Vance told the conference.
“Unfortunately when I look at Europe today, it’s sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold War’s winners,” Vance said during his speech, taking specific shots at host-nation Germany as well as Britain, Sweden and Romania.
“If you are running in fear of your own voters there is nothing America can do for you.”
Vance also said migration is the biggest issue facing Europe at the present time, while at the same time touching on the attack in Munich earlier in the week carried out by an asylum seeker from Afghanistan.
He only briefly touched on the situation in Ukraine, after he and Rubio were scheduled to meet at the conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.