Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany amid growing tensions between the U.S. and its European allies.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told European allies it’s time for a period of renewal as the old world order is ending.
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MARCO RUBIO: And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe. For the United States and Europe, we belong together.
SIMON: He was speaking today at the Munich Security Conference, where diplomats are still reeling from last year’s speech by Vice President JD Vance, who lectured Europe about free speech and migration. Secretary Rubio touched on similar themes but in a way some Europeans seem to appreciate. NPR’s Michele Kelemen is in Munich. Michele, thanks so much for being with us.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Nice to be here, Scott.
SIMON: What was Secretary Rubio’s main message today?
KELEMEN: Well, he said that the U.S. and Europe made a lot of mistakes in recent years, focusing on what he called the climate cult and also allowing supply chains to become too dependent on rivals like China. He also spent a lot of time talking about Christian values and fears of civilizational erasure because of mass migration. Those were, you know, a big focus of Vance’s speech last year, but Rubio couched it a bit differently. Take a listen.
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RUBIO: So in a time of headlines, heralding the end of the trans-Atlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.
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SIMON: I here a pause there, Michele. How did the speech go over?
KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, the host of the conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, said there was a sigh of relief in the room, and he said he saw this speech as a message of reassurance. But, you know, I heard California Governor Gavin Newsom telling a group of reporters yesterday that Vice President Vance set the bar so low with last year’s speech. And Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who met Rubio yesterday, also talked about the world order as we know it is in the past, but he told the U.S. that the U.S. isn’t strong enough to go it alone. French President Emmanuel Macron, who’s also here, told the gathering that Europe needs to become a geopolitical leader and needs to really stand up to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
SIMON: You mentioned Governor Newsom. There are other Democrats there as well, aren’t there?
KELEMEN: Yeah. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her debut here, and she’s blaming the Trump administration of ripping up democratic norms and turning the world into what she calls an age of authoritarians who are carving up the world.
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ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Where Donald Trump can command the Western Hemisphere and Latin America as his personal sandbox, where Putin can saber-rattle around Europe and for, essentially, authoritarians to have their own geographic domains.
KELEMEN: And she says she was here with other Democrats offering a different way forward.
SIMON: Russia’s war in Ukraine is obviously a big concern for Europe. What did Secretary Rubio say about that?
KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, Europeans are really alarmed by Russia’s continued strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid during this cold spell. They say Russia is trying to play for time, trying to win territory in talks with Trump’s envoys that it hasn’t been able to capture on the battlefield. Rubio would only say that he’s not really sure if the Russians are serious about ending the war and whether there are any terms that can be negotiated that are acceptable to Ukraine. But he said the U.S. is going to continue to try, and that’s been the goal.
SIMON: NPR’s Michele Kelemen from Munich. Thanks so much.
KELEMEN: Thank you.
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