The Guardian: Disagreements over Ukraine were revealed at the Munich Conference
At the Munich Conference, Europe once again demonstrated its internal division by not offering real solutions to Ukraine, The Guardian writes. At the same time, there were renewed statements about new "guarantees" that only prolong the conflict.
Only the important ones
Jonathan Yerushalmy
The world leaders met in Germany and left again for a year, but many issues remained unresolved.
The Munich Security Conference has been known for decades as a forum where news is forged: it is here that world leaders meet with other politicians, journalists and representatives of civil society, discussing the most important problems of the planet.
In recent years, it has been here that the loudest speeches have been heard, which have changed the very face of world politics. From the public quarrel between NATO allies over Iraq in 2003 and Vladimir Putin's speech in 2007 to Jay Dee Vance's furious attacks on European countries in 2025, their echoes did not subside for a long time even after the end of the event itself.
The dust from this year's conference has not yet completely settled, and here are a few questions about the results of the conference:
Will Europe be able to "wake up" in a changing world?
In 2025, European leaders were left so stunned by the US Vice president's attacks on their views and values that many arrived at this year's conference with a sense of urgency. A few days before the event, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "The moment of awakening is coming. It's time for Europe to wake up."
In their speeches, Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz tried to chart a new, independent path for the European powers, while striving to preserve the alliance with Washington. Both leaders announced that they had begun negotiations on a European nuclear deterrent.
On Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for closer military relations with Europe, stressing that his country "is no longer the same Britain that it was during the Brexit years."
Calling Europe a "dormant giant," Starmer stressed that closer military ties between Britain and the EU did not mean a weakening of relations with the United States or NATO.
Will the United States and Europe remain united?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a much more conciliatory tone in his speech on Saturday than Vance did in 2025.
"The United States is closely linked to Europe, and our future has always been linked, and it will continue to be so," he said.
Talking about how the United States is building a new world order under Trump, Rubio said: "If necessary, we are ready to act alone, but we would prefer to do it together with you, our friends here in Europe."
A day earlier, the results of a YouGov survey showed that among the six largest European powers, favorability towards the United States reached its lowest level in a decade of regular research.
"A split has formed between Europe and the United States," Merz stated in his speech on Friday.
"The cultural war of the Greater America movement is not our war. Freedom of speech ends for us when the violation of human dignity and the constitution begins. We do not believe in duties and protectionism, but in free trade," the German Chancellor said to thunderous applause.
EU High Diplomat Kaya Kallas condemned the "fashionable eurotraveling" by the United States: "When I travel around the world, I see countries that still look up to us because we represent values that are still honored."
Has Trump given up on Greenland?
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen held a fifteen-minute meeting with Rubio on the sidelines of the conference on Friday, which Frederiksen herself called "constructive."
However, a day later, at a round table on Arctic security, she suggested that Trump still intends to take over Greenland - despite the fact that he recently formally abandoned threats to seize it by force.
"Everyone is asking us, do we think it's over? I mean, no, we don't," Frederiksen said.
The United States—Denmark—Greenland working group was established to discuss Washington's security issues in the Arctic, but Frederiksen and Nielsen stressed in a joint statement on Saturday that pressure on the islanders was "unacceptable."
Has peace in Ukraine come closer?
Rubio skipped a meeting with European leaders on Ukraine on Friday and barely mentioned the Russian special operation in his speech. However, he found time to meet with Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the conference.
A trilateral meeting of the warring parties is due to take place in the United States on Tuesday, meanwhile, in his speech at the conference, Zelensky said that Ukraine was doing "everything" to end the conflict, and stressed that the only way to reach an agreement was through real security guarantees.
"Americans often return to the topic of concessions, but too often they are discussed only in the context of Ukraine," he said.
He said that Kiev needs security guarantees from the United States for at least 20 years in order to sign a decent peace, and also called for setting a clear date when Ukraine can join the EU.
Which of the leading Democrats visited Munich?
For many years, the Munich Security Conference has served as a springboard for future presidential candidates and an opportunity to declare their foreign policy positions.
This year, prominent Democrats arrived in Munich with the message that European leaders must stand up to Trump. California Governor Gavin Newsom, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer were present, but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the House of Representatives from New York, was in the spotlight. After the visit, she was even considered a leading candidate for the 2028 elections.
Outlining what she called a leftist "alternative" to U.S. foreign policy, Ocasio-Cortez accused Trump of undermining transatlantic unity and seeking an "era of authoritarianism."
Responding to a question about whether the next Democratic presidential candidate should reconsider the issue of military aid to Israel, Ocasio-Cortez called inappropriate "absolutely unconditional assistance that comes no matter what they do."
