Rubio seeks reset with Europe in Munich, vows renewed friendship but offers few specifics
MUNICH — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to “revitalise” Washington’s friendship with Europe in a keynote at the Munich Security Conference, drawing a standing ovation after a year of turbulence in transatlantic relations. The speech, however, offered scant concrete commitments, made no mention of Russia and faulted Europe’s approach to migration and climate policy.
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“In a time of headlines heralding the end of the transatlantic era … we will always be a child of Europe,” Rubio said Saturday. “For the United States and Europe, we belong together.”
- Rubio promises to renew U.S.-Europe ties but avoids Russia in remarks
- Europe’s migration and climate policies criticised as threats to cohesion and prosperity
- EU leaders welcome softer tone, press for greater European autonomy
- Ukraine looms over conference as U.S.-brokered talks set to resume in Geneva
Rubio argued that Western “euphoria” after the Cold War bred a “foolish” belief in a borderless world, leading nations to outsource sovereignty and open “doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.” He added that to appease a “climate cult,” Western governments had imposed energy policies “impoverishing our people.”
While praising Europe’s cultural heritage from Michelangelo to Shakespeare, Rubio cast the moment as one for course correction, recalling allies who “bled and died side-by-side on battlefields from Kapyong to Kandahar” and insisting Washington “wants to do it together” again.
The address marked a tonal shift from last year, when U.S. Vice President JD Vance stunned the same gathering by lecturing European allies and playing down external threats. Since then, the Trump administration has roiled allies with tariff threats, including a short-lived bid last month to pressure several European countries as part of an effort to secure U.S. control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO member Denmark.
European leaders welcomed Rubio’s conciliatory rhetoric but pointed to persistent gaps. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the remarks “very reassuring,” while noting “in the administration, some have a harsher tone on these topics.” In her speech, she argued Europe must become more independent, including in defense, and reaffirmed the bloc’s push for “digital sovereignty” governing online speech.
Others were more guarded. “I am not sure that Europeans see the announced civilisational decline, supposedly caused mainly by migration and deindustrialisation, as a core uniting interest. For most Europeans, the common interest is security,” said Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s former foreign minister, adding that Rubio’s comments were not a departure from administration policy, “simply delivered in more polite terms.”
Beyond tone, Ukraine overshadowed the conference. European governments have long feared a Trump-Putin deal that would force Kyiv to cede land to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. U.S.-brokered peace talks are due to resume next week in Geneva after Russia’s sustained winter bombardment of Ukrainian cities killed civilians and left hundreds of thousands without power and water.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed cautious hope but said he felt “a little bit” of pressure from Trump to seize an “opportunity” to make peace soon. “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often, those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia,” he said.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas echoed that concern. Pressuring the victim, she told Al Jazeera, might bring a “quick win” on paper but would spur further aggression: “The aggressor got what it want, the appetite only grows.”
Structural frictions also remain in Washington, analysts said. Donald Jensen, a former U.S. diplomat and scholar of Russian policy, argued Rubio’s outreach is unlikely to reconcile Europe to the administration’s worldview. Rubio is “one of several voices on the Ukraine issue,” he said, and not “always on the same page” with Vance or other officials. Internal inconsistencies make it hard for European partners “to know what they’re dealing with.”
For now, the standing ovation in Munich signals a hunger for steadier footing. Whether Rubio’s rhetoric translates into aligned policy — on defense, energy, migration and especially Ukraine — remains the test for a strained alliance.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
