Munich
\nWorld leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have been gathering in Munich for Europe\u2019s biggest security and defence conference.
\nThe burning question on everyone\u2019s minds: is the US still an ally of Europe?
\nThe keynote speech that everyone was waiting for was from Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state.
\nWould he repeat the attacks made on Europe last year by the US Vice-President JD Vance? Or would he be conciliatory?
\nThe hall was packed to the rafters. Generals and admirals, bemedalled in their uniforms, prime ministers and presidents, diplomats, ambassadors, US Congressmen and women, European politicians and their Spads – all waiting nervously to hear what President Donald Trump\u2019s top diplomat had to say.
\nThe applause did not come straight away. In fact, for the first few minutes, as Rubio got into his stride, it began to sound very much like a repeat attack on Europe.
\nFree trade, mass migration, green policies on climate change \u2013 all came in for sharp criticism.
\nHe even talked about \u201ca climate cult\u201d that was harming America\u2019s economy, while he went on to slam the United Nations, saying it had failed to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
\nThe US secretary of state, impeccably neat and groomed, stood with one hand casually in his trouser pocket, delivering this from a prepared script at a podium.
\nBut then he spoke the words everyone in the room wanted to hear: \u201cOur destiny will always be intertwined with yours (in Europe).\u201d
\n\u201cThe end of the transatlantic era,\u201d he went on to say, \u201cis neither our goal nor our wish… we will always be a child of Europe\u201d.
\nRubio spoke of \u201cunshackling creativity\u201d, of shared goals in securing supply chains for critical minerals, and of the European culture he so admired, a continent that had given the world Shakespeare, Mozart and the Rolling Stones (he got a muffled laugh for that).
\nBut there was a sting in the tail. What we have together, he said, was unique and \u201cwe in the US have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West\u2019s managed decline\u201d.
\nSo what did people make of this? It was broadly positive \u2013 about half the audience stood up at the end to applaud him.
\nThere was certainly a palpable sense of relief that after all the upsets of the last few months, with tariffs and the threat of a US grab for Greenland, the transatlantic alliance was not dead.
\n\u201cIt was a good speech,\u201d Kaja Kallas, the EU\u2019s top diplomat, told me afterwards.
\n\u201cI think the Europeans sighed with relief because it was saying that Europe is important, that Europe and America are very intertwined and good allies, and have been for so long and will be in the future.\u201d
\nShe did not deny, though, that there remain real differences in policy in some areas between Washington and Europe.
\nAnd while both sides agree that Europe needs to shoulder much more of the burden for its own defence, I have encountered some quiet exasperation here in Munich at Trump\u2019s refusal to put enough pressure on Russia to end the Ukraine war, that is poised to enter its fifth, bloody year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Munich World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have been gathering in Munich for Europe\u2019s biggest security and defence conference. The burning question on everyone\u2019s minds: is the US still an ally of Europe? The keynote speech that everyone was waiting for was from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-531418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n