Referring to multiple warnings that the rules-based order was collapsing, Merz told the conference: “I fear we must put it even more bluntly: this order, however imperfect it was even at its best, no longer exists in that form.”
He also said that “a rift, a deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States. Vice-President JD Vance said this very openly here in Munich a year ago”.
Merz continued: “He was right. The culture war of the Maga [Make America Great Again] movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade.”
Last year, Vance attacked Europe, including the UK, for policies on free speech and immigration. His speech triggered a year of unprecedented transatlantic tension.
But Merz did not write off the decades-long partnership, instead appealing directly to the US by saying “let’s repair and revive transatlantic trust”.
The German leader also revealed that “confidential talks” were ongoing with French President Emmanuel Macron on creating a joint European nuclear deterrent. He gave no further details.
France and the UK are the only two nuclear powers in Europe – but Germany and many other European nations have traditionally relied on the US nuclear umbrella within the Nato alliance for deterrence.
Addressing the conference later on Friday, Macron reiterated his call for Europe to “learn to become a geopolitical power” in the new global context.
He said Europe was already re-arming following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – but stressed that “we have to accelerate” and do it together across the continent”.
Describing the war in Ukraine’s as Europe’s “existential challenge”, the French leader urged not to “cave in to Russian demands” – but to increase pressure on Moscow to achieve a just peace.
Ahead of the Munich conference, Rubio warned that “the world is changing very fast right in front of us” after being asked whether his message to Europeans would be more conciliatory than Vance’s a year ago.
“We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” he said.
Tensions have been heightened in recent months as Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is vital to US national security, stating without evidence that it was “covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place”.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said earlier in the day that she planned to meet Rubio to discuss the US threats to seize Greenland from its Nato ally.