Rubio’s words reassure Europe, but tensions remain : NPR
EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Each year, the Munich Security Conference brings together hundreds of world leaders – heads of government, the military, international organizations and more – to discuss the most pressing joint security and diplomatic issues. Today’s headliner was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. His highly anticipated remarks come at a deeply worrying time for transatlantic relations and the tensions that followed last year’s speech by Vice President JD Vance, which shocked attendees with harsh criticism of European policies and a confrontational tone. Well, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED host Mary Louise Kelly is in Germany reporting from the ground on today’s events.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE: Hey, Emily, thanks. Indeed, I am in Germany, where the 62nd Munich Security Conference is in full swing around us and where Secretary of State Marco Rubio has answered the question that has been on everyone’s mind here in this charming Bavarian city over the past few days: Would America blow up the Transatlantic Alliance or step up and try to make it stronger? Well, it’s Valentine’s Day, and all the prime ministers and foreign ministers, all the dignitaries around me here in Munich – they, alas, did not receive flowers or boxes of chocolates from the United States, but Secretary Rubio offered it.
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MARCO RUBIO: So, at a time of headlines announcing the end of the transatlantic era, let everyone know clearly that this is neither our objective nor our wish.
KELLY: Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger took the stage with Secretary Rubio. Right after that he said – I don’t know if you could hear the collective sigh of relief – thanks for the comfort. Let’s call on NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen. She’s traveling with Rubio inside the security bubble, and it’s quite a bubble, Michele. He just brushed past me in the hallway. There were about 20 scary-looking security guards, which, considering the perimeter security checks we all had to go through to get in here, is saying something.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Oh, yeah. And he continues to move around in these groups, mostly holding meetings on a single floor of this building, back and forth, having what they call claws-out, sort of five or ten minute meetings with a lot of the leaders here.
KELLY: Speed dating for diplomats.
KELEMEN: Exactly.
KELLY: OK, so we’re here – just to give everyone some context, you and I, Michele, are here on this balcony. We are looking at the main entrance of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel here in Munich. You were in the room. When Secretary Rubio gave a speech, was there an audible sigh of relief?
KELEMEN: He got a standing ovation and I think some people were relieved. But when we go back and listen to what he actually said, I think Europeans are asking themselves a lot of questions today. I mean, for example, he talked a lot about shared values, but not the shared values of democracy and a rules-based order, which he called an overused term. It was more about Christianity and what he called civilizational alliances. He said it was a mistake for the United States to allow, in his view, mass migration, which leads to civilizational erasure. Those are the kinds of terms he used there. And he said, you know, he’s really working to fix these things. The United States can do it alone, but prefers to do it with partners. And that’s where people at least felt that there was a place for Europe. Listen.
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RUBIO: Because we in America have no interest in being polite, orderly guardians of the West’s managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history.
KELLY: So, Michele, if you wrote the headline, would it be fair to sum it up like this: Rubio has remained remarkably faithful to the message from the White House regarding Europe, NATO, the Alliance. But he managed to do it in a… what? — in a silkier, more diplomatic way than JD Vance did when he showed up and threw a grenade at the debates here last year.
KELEMEN: Yeah, I mean, exactly. It was largely the same things JD Vance talked about last year, although he talked a lot more about right-wing politics and other MAGA talking points. But, you know, it’s funny, Mary Louise, because I saw Gavin Newsom here, the Democratic governor of California, and he was saying that JD Vance had lowered the bar so much that, you know, Rubio was going to be graded on a curve. And I think…
KELLY: Rubio would have gotten applause no matter what he said…
KELEMEN: Exactly.
KELLY: …As long as it wasn’t JD Vance. OK, so Michele, aside from not blowing up the alliance, is anything else striking you about Rubio’s remarks?
KELEMEN: You know, climate change is a major problem in Europe and around the world. But he talked about climate worship. And I was listening – shortly after, there was a – actually a session on climate change because it’s an important issue for Europeans and for international security. And Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was there and he apologized for that Rubio statement. He said that comment wouldn’t age well. So, you know, you see a lot of Democrats here in the hallways, on the panels, sort of, you know, raising questions like, hey, Europe, we’re still here, and maybe we’ll have a turn in the future.
KELLY: NPR’s Michele Kelemen, it’s great to see you in Germany. Safe travels.
KELEMEN: Thank you.
KELLY: And shortly after Secretary Rubio’s speech, I met here with the foreign minister of France. He gave us his only interview here in Munich. It’s here.
Jean-Noël Barrot is the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, therefore the highest French diplomat. Welcome, welcome, nice to meet you.
JEAN-NOEL BARROT: Thank you very much, thank you very much.
KELLY: We’re speaking on the floor above where U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today here at the Munich Security Conference. He received a standing ovation. And I wonder: Do you think that’s because America’s allies liked what he had to say, or because you feared it would be much worse?
BARROT: I think the reason the crowd here welcomed Secretary Rubio’s remarks is because he made two important points. One concerns the historical ties between the United States and Europe. Let’s not forget that 250 years ago, France and the United States invented democracy. And the second thing I think people took away from his remarks is that there are some challenges that, in some sense, the United States cannot overcome alone.
KELLY: It’s true that Secretary Rubio spoke warmly about the shared history between Europe and the United States. It is also true that he said: the United States does not want to blow up the Transatlantic Alliance. We want to make it stronger. But as I listened, I heard him say that what comes next is a choice for Europe.
BARROT: And that’s…
KELLY: You are with us, or you are weak and declining. I mean, did you hear a, is this our way, or are you alone?
BARROT: What we have been hearing for a long time from the United States is that Europe is becoming stronger and more independent.
KELLY: Is President Trump the wake-up call Europe needed?
BARROT: The way we see it from Paris and from France is that the messages that President Trump is conveying now are the same ones that he conveyed during his first term and that to a very large extent, they are bipartisan messages that we received loud and clear. And if we have done so much over the last 10 years to increase our sovereignty and our independence, it is also because our allied partners (ph) told us that action was expected from our side.
KELLY: One on Ukraine: Is it a problem that peace talks over Ukraine, a European nation, don’t include Europeans?
BARROT: One way or another, Europe will be included in these discussions. There can be no peace in Ukraine without Europe. There is no lifting of sanctions. There is no guarantee of security. There is no financial support if Europe is not included. We therefore support…
KELLY: But would you like to have a seat at the table for these discussions?
BARROT: At some point, the place at the table will be drawn for Europe. At the moment, what is positive is that within the framework of the American mediation which we supported and which we support, direct discussions are taking place between the Ukrainian and Russian negotiators. This is good and should continue.
KELLY: For the many Americans listening and trying to understand, will transatlantic security not only survive but thrive? – what are you saying ?
BARROT: I think it is in the interest of the United States and in the interest of Europe because of the geography which will not change…
KELLY: Is that a yes?
BARROT: …To advance our alliance at a time when the threat is increasing in the Arctic, on the southern flank of the transatlantic alliance and obviously in the East, Russia representing a major threat not only for the security of the European continent, but also for its civilizational project, for democracy, for freedom. And I think freedom and democracy have meaning in the United States of America.
KELLY: But forgive me, you’re saying it’s in both our interests, in the interests of both our countries.
BARROT: Yeah.
KELLY: Are you confident it will survive and thrive?
BARROT: Well, tell me. We are developing European capacity and vision within NATO, within the Transatlantic Alliance. But everything will then depend on the weight, the importance that the United States will give to NATO. What they have been telling us for a long time is that they want Europe to take more responsibility, and that is exactly what we are doing in close coordination with them.
KELLY: Jean-Noël Barrot is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, he is speaking to us here in the middle of the Munich security conference. Good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
BARROT: Thank you very much (phone). Thank you so much.
KWONG: That was ALL THINGS CONSIDERED host Mary Louise Kelly attending the Munich Security Conference with NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen, reporting on the mixed reaction from European stakeholders to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s headline speech today. Now, tomorrow is the last day of the event, and we will have more media coverage of the conference and how what is discussed there will play out around the world in the days and months to come.
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