Friday, in a blister speech, American vice-president Jd vance told European leaders: “There is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trump Leadership “and warns governments that internal threats to democracy, such as cancellations of elections and censorship, are greater threats to their country than external antagonists like China and Russia.
“The threat that I am most vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it is not China, it is not another external actor,” said Vance, S ‘expressing to the Munich Security Conference. “What worries me is the threat of the interior – the retirement of Europe of some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.
“I have heard a lot about what you need to defend yourself and of course, it’s important. But what seemed to me a little less clear … What are you defending yourself for?
In his own remarks to the conference, Vance gave conferences to European officials on freedom of expression and illegal migration on the continent, warning the elected officials that they risk losing public support if they do not change quickly course.
It specifically targeted on December 2024 Cancellation of Romania’s electionswho were canceled by the country’s Superior Court after the accusations of Russian interference, rejecting the concerns of disinformation as “villains in the Soviet era”.
“Reject people, reject their concerns … Close the media, close the elections … does not protect anything. This is the safest way to destroy democracy, “he said.
“If you run in the fear of your own voters, there is nothing American for you.”
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The vice-president also warned European officials against illegal migration, claiming that the electorate had not voted to open “valves to millions of unpaid immigrants” and referencing a Attack Thursday in Munich Where the suspect is a 24 -year -old Afghan who arrived in Germany as asylum seeker in 2016.
He stressed that Europe must “intensify” the management of its own security, taking a combative tone during a period of increase in transatlantic discord around trade, defense and other questions.
And despite the main repeated attacks of Trump’s allies against journalists, democrats and perceived criticisms, Vance struck his boss’s predecessor, former president Joe Biden, who said that “seemed desperate to silence people for having expressed their minds “.
“There is a new sheriff in town under the direction of Donald Trump,” said Vance. “We can disagree with your opinions, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square. Agree or disagree.
After the speech, Vance would have met the leader From the extreme right alternative to Germany (AFD), reports AFP. His conversation with Alice Weidel, the best AFD candidate in the next German elections, was held outside the conference because AFD was not invited to attend, according to the point of ZDF local sale.
NBC News reports that vice-president’s comments “were encountered an icy reception and only dispersed applause. “”
THE future of Ukraine was at the top of the agenda in Munich after a telephone call between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin this week, where they undertook to work together to put an end to the conflict, but Vance did not mention.
Instead, he declared that Brussels had closed social media on hateful content and criticized Germany for what he described as raids against his own citizens for having published anti-feminist comments, Sweden for Having condemned a Christian activist and the United Kingdom for deciding on religious rights.
The discourse of the vice-president aroused immediate criticism in Europe.
“Vance attack on European democracy In Munich, to perverse the language of democracy itself should be no doubt that the aim of this administration is to destroy the EU and its liberal democracies, “Nathalie Tocci, director of the Istituto Affari Interazionali told Reuters. Think Tank.
Responding to the speech of Vance, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, told the conference: “If I understood him correctly, he compared parts of Europe with authoritarian regimes. It is not acceptable.
–With Reuters and Associated Press files
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