The Munich Security Conference showed that it is time for Europeans to take responsibility for their own security and the first challenge will be to prevent Ukraine from capitulating.
This opinion was expressed by French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad.
“There was a lot of exchange of views with European colleagues at the Munich Security Conference. The message is clear: It is time to take responsibility for our own security. The first test will be not to capitulate in Ukraine“, he wrote in X.
Later in an interview with BFMTV, he explained that the statements of US representatives at the Munich conference should "wake up" Europeans to abandon Washington's tutelage in the security sphere. He also stressed that "nobody can give Europe lessons in democracy, not even the United States".
On Friday, US Vice President J.D. Vance, speaking at a conference in Munich, criticized the EU for censorship and blocking social media. He also stressed that Europe is afraid of its own voters and in this state is useless to the United States. In addition, the vice president noted that migrant crimes can be avoided by tightening border controls.
On Saturday, US special presidential envoy Keith Kellogg said that Europe will not be physically present at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, as the United States does not want to "engage in discussions with a large number of participants". According to Kellogg, there is now a "two-track" approach to peace talks, with US officials working separately with Russia and separately with Ukraine, together with allies.
The US administration expects European countries to take the lead in providing security guarantees to Ukraine. Washington has made it clear that it expects its European partners to play a leading role in creating a strong security framework and looks forward to their proposals. A strong, self-sufficient Europe is in their interest, as well as ours," the US State Department said.