| 61st Munich Security Conference Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname | MSC 2025 |
| Begins | 14 February 2025 |
| Ends | 16 February 2025 |
| Venue | Hotel Bayerischer Hof |
| Locations | Munich, Germany |
| Previous event | 60th (2024) |
| Next event | 62nd (2026) |
The61st Munich Security Conference (MSC 2025) was the annual meeting of theMunich Security Conference, that took place from 14 February to 16 February 2025 inMunich, Germany. A few days earlier the Munich Security Report had been published. Its title served as thematic framework for the conference: 'multipolarization' - A state of global reorganization between promising opportunities and endangered communality, especially in the management of crises and threats. According to the report, “depolarization” and substantial reforms of the international order are now needed more than ever.[1] During the conference, a series of US statements at the conference sparked controversy and unrest among the attending European politicians.[2] Key outcomes of the conference include further weakening of the transatlantic alliance,[2][3] US attitude shift about thewar in Ukraine – and Europe in general, increased US pressure on Europe to further raisedefence spending, calls by the US for Europe to further increase military aid to Ukraine, and discord between US and Europe on topics as diverse as election interference, trade, freedom of speech and democratic values.[2]
It was almost three years since theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[4] Donald Trump had started hissecond presidency 25 days before the conference.[5]
One day before the event,a car attack inMunich injured 36 people.[6] The conference ran just over one week before the2025 German federal election.[7]
Attendees of the conference included:[8][full citation needed]
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission[9]Roberta Metsola, President of the European ParliamentKaja Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission
Mark Rutte, Secretary General
JD Vance, Vice PresidentMarco Rubio, Secretary of StateLindsey Graham, SenatorJeanne Shaheen, SenatorSheldon Whitehouse, SenatorJohn Cornyn, Senator
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President
Salome Zourabichvili, 5th President
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Head of theUnited Transitional Cabinet of Belarus
Olaf Scholz, ChancellorFrank-Walter Steinmeier, PresidentAnnalena Baerbock, Federal Minister for Foreign AffairsJörg Kukies, Federal Minister for Finance
Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Wang Yi, Chinese Communist Party Politburo foreign chief and Foreign Minister[10]
Cho Tae-yul, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Takeshi Iwaya, Minister of Foreign Affairs
John Healey, Defence SecretaryDavid Lammy, Foreign Secretary
Edgars Rinkēvičs, PresidentEvika Siliņa, Prime Minister
John Mahama, President
Félix Tshisekedi, President
S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs
Mélanie Joly, Foreign Minister
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Former Foreign Minister
Téné Birahima Ouattara, Minister of Defense
Gideon Sa‘ar, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Defense[11]
Gitanas Nausėda, President
Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister
Alar Karis, President
Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg, Minister of Finance
Petr Pavel, President
Maria Malmer Stenergard, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Alexander Stubb, PresidentElina Valtonen, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister
Kristrún Frostadóttir, Prime Minister
Edi Rama, Prime Minister
Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister
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The conference was opened on 14 February 2025 by German presidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier.[12] During the event, Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy met with US vice presidentJD Vance,[13] while Vance also met withAlice Weidel, co-chairwoman of the far-rightAlternative for Germany (AfD), and with opposition leaderFriedrich Merz. Zelenskyy also had a meeting with severalUnited States senators from both major US political parties.[14]
Mark Rutte, thesecretary general ofNATO, said that European countries needed to come up with plans for Ukraine if they wished to play a major role in discussions on a peace settlement for theRussia–Ukraine war.[15]
Ina speech, Vance said that illegal migration was the "most urgent" challenge faced by Europe.[6] Vance also said that European leaders need to do more to contribute to Ukrainian defense as the US focuses more on China.[7] Vance also claimed that European states were failing to uphold free speech and democratic values, criticizing thefirewall against the far-right in Germany and the decision to cancel the results of the2024 Romanian presidential election because ofRussian interference in the campaign.[14][16] German defense ministerBoris Pistorius rebuffed Vance's speech, saying,[17]
if I have understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regions ... that is not acceptable.
Vance's speech was also criticised, among others, by ChancellorOlaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party of Germany),Natalia Pouzyreff (The Republic on the Move), Opposition Leader and likely next ChancellorFriedrich Merz (Christian Democratic Union of Germany), Vice ChancellorRobert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens),[18][19] and Minister for ForeignAnnalena Baerbock (Alliance 90/The Greens).[20]Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Free Democratic Party) called Vance's speech a "bizarre intellectual bottom".[18]
Responses vary greatly, but include Scholz saying,[18][21][22]
that is why we will not accept outsiders interfering in our democracy, our elections, and in the democratic formation of opinions in support and for the benefit of this party … that is not appropriate – especially among friends and allies, and we firmly reject this.
— Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Scholz also said "the democratic parties in Germany 'have a common consensus' because of the experiences with national socialism: that consensus is the firewall against extreme right parties",[18][a] stressing further that "the Federal Republic [of Germany] is a democracy, that created itself from the opposition against national socialism and against fascism",[18] national socialism and their monstrous crimes have been trivialised from the ranks of the AfD as a speck of "birdshit in German history",[23] "a commitment to 'never again', as Vance made during a visit to theDachau concentration camp memorial site, cannot be reconciled with support for the AfD",[23] and that Germans "decide their democracy for themselves."[22][23]
Habeck noted that in the US "a new form of technological money-nobility" is currently emerging as a social class that needs German and European responses,[18] and "what Vance did yesterday [...] it must be said as clearly as this [...] it's none of your business [...] deal with your own stuff, there are enough challenges in the US."[18] Merz criticised Vance's interference in the German election, rejected Vance's allegation of a value deficit in Europe saying that lawful regulation of hate speech and fake news by independent courts is absolutely appropriate,[21] and pointed out that journalists would never be denied access to the chancellory in reference toAssociated Press staff being denied access to theWhite House andAir Force One for their choice of speech around the name of theGulf of Mexico.[21][24]
Zelenskyy called for the creation of a European army.[25] Such an army is a prerequisite to Europe, which has more than twice the population of the US, developing its ownnuclear umbrella.[26] Currently that umbrella is contributed to NATO by the US as adeterrent,[27][28] with Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey beingnuclear sharing participants and France and the UK maintaining their own nuclear weapons. Loss of this umbrella would create a significant gap,[28] and might lead to what it was in part created to prevent: proliferation of nuclear weapons and emergence of Europe as anything but an indivisible albeit junior partner of the US.[27][29][30]
Merz sagte weiter: 'Es sei nicht denkbar, dass die deutsche Bundesregierung bestimmte Medien von Pressekonferenzen ausschließen würde.' Die US-Regierung lässt die Nachrichtenagentur AP nicht mehr zu Konferenzen im Oval Office zu. (transl. Merz went on to say: 'It is inconceivable that the German federal government would exclude certain media from press conferences.' The US government no longer allows the AP news agency to conference in the Oval Office.)
Es seien zwei Botschaften [...]: Einerseits die von Vance, die einer Wertegemeinschaft der USA mit Europa aufkündige. Andererseits sei durch die Teilnahme anderer US-Vertreter dennoch eine 'transatlantische Familie zusammengekommen', in der diese Gemeinschaft dennoch vorhanden sei. [...] Uns ist auch aufgefallen, dass selbst republikanische Senatoren vorsichtig sind, sich öffentlich zu äußern, weil sie Angst vor ihrem Präsidenten haben.
Media from Commons