Vance meets far-right German leader as Berlin accuses him of election interference
Germany’s defense minister says US veep calling into question ‘not just German democracy but that of Europe as a whole,’ after Vance slams EU policies on free speech, migration
US Vice President JD Vance met on Friday in Munich with the leader of Germany’s far-right AfD, his office confirmed, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.
An official in Vance’s office did not provide further details of the meeting, but said that Vance met with leaders of all of Germany’s major political parties, according to the pool report.
A spokesperson for AfD leader Alice Weidel confirmed the meeting, saying the two met at Vance’s hotel for about 30 minutes and discussed the Ukraine war, German domestic policy and freedom of speech.
The anti-immigration AfD, currently polling at around 20% ahead of the February 23 general election, has pariah status among other major political parties in a country with a taboo about far-right politics because of its Nazi past.
In a policy dubbed the “firewall,” parties have formed a consensus not to work with the AfD, which is under surveillance by the German domestic intelligence service.
In an apparent reference to the catchword, Vance said: “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls.”
“No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants,” Vance also said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio due to be broadcast on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Vance’s remarks as highly unusual, adding that Germany had a firewall against extreme right-wing parties for a good reason, citing Germany’s past under National Socialism.
Germany’s defense minister on Friday rebuffed Vance’s criticism of German and European political powers as unacceptable.
“This democracy was just called into question by the US vice president, not just the German democracy but that of Europe as a whole,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
“If I understand him correctly, he compares the condition of Europe with what prevails in some authoritarian regimes…this is not acceptable,” he added.
Conservative leader Friedrich Merz, whom polls show is likely to be Germany’s next chancellor, was accused by rivals last month of breaking the firewall by initiating parliamentary motions that relied on AfD support. But he, too, has ruled out forming a government with the far-right party.
Earlier on Friday, a German government spokesperson said Vance should not interfere in Germany’s election when asked about a Wall Street Journal report in which Vance was quoted as saying he would urge German politicians to work with all parties, including the AfD.
“I don’t think it is right for foreigners, including those from friendly foreign countries, to interfere so intensively in an election campaign in the middle of an election period,” the German government spokesperson said at a press conference.
Billionaire US businessman Elon Musk, the biggest donor to President Donald Trump’s election effort and now head of Trump’s task force to cut US government spending, has publicly backed the AfD.
‘New sheriff in town’
In his address to the conference, Vance launched a withering attack against European policies on immigration, populist parties and free speech, echoing Trump whom he called Washington’s “new sheriff in town.”
Vance stressed that Europe must “step up” in managing its own security, a key bone of contention. But he mostly lambasted the EU’s members on culture war issues.
“There is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trump’s leadership,” said Vance in a speech that stunned the room.
Vance slammed EU “commissars” for stifling free expression and charged that “across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.”
Trump, speaking in Washington, doubled down on Vance’s attack on traditional US allies.
“I heard his speech. He talked about freedom of speech. And I think it’s true in Europe,” the president told reporters at the White House. “They’re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech.
“And he talked about immigration, and Europe has a big immigration problem.”
Vance’s speech — which focused on key themes of Trump’s election campaign — was a combative broadside at a time of transatlantic discord over defense, trade and Ukraine. It overshadowed discussions on the latter issue in particular, as the prospect of peace talks had been expected to dominate the annual conference after a call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week.
The US vice president, however, barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering. He said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech — as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.
Trump’s call with Putin alarmed European governments, which have tried to isolate the Russian president since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and fear they could be cut out of peace talks that would have repercussions for their own security.
Vance, who met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich on Friday, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview before the conference that Trump could use several tools – economic and military – for leverage with Putin.
Vance’s spokesman, William Martin, later took issue with the newspaper’s interpretation that the vice president had been threatening Russia.
Peace talks
Zelensky said at the Munich conference that he would talk to Putin only once Ukraine had agreed on a common plan with Trump and European leaders.
Vance and Zelensky declined to give details of what they discussed in Munich but the Ukrainian president reiterated that his country needs “real security guarantees.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned against any attempt to impose a peace deal on Ukraine.
“A sham peace — over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans — would gain nothing,” she said. “A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States.”
Russia now holds about 20% of Ukraine nearly three years after launching a full-scale invasion, saying Kyiv’s pursuit of NATO membership posed an existential threat. Ukraine and the West call Russia’s action an imperialist land grab.
Vance also repeated Trump’s demand that Europe do more to safeguard its own defense so Washington can focus on other regions, particularly the Indo-Pacific.
“In the future, we think Europe is going to have to take a bigger role in its own security,” he said in a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Vance was “absolutely right” about the need for Europe “stepping up” and doing more for its own defense. “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more,” Rutte said.
At the conference, several European leaders echoed his comments, saying Europe would step up its defense spending but also needed to discuss with Washington a gradual phasing-out of its support.
