Germany says US vice president's accusations against Europe 'not acceptable'

BERLIN

Germany's defense minister sharply criticized US Vice President JD Vance on Friday for claiming that European governments enforce anti-democratic policies and suppress critical voices.

At the Munich Security Conference, Boris Pistorius firmly rejected Vance's assertion that European countries were abandoning democratic principles.

“I must respond to the speech we heard earlier from the US vice president,” the Social Democrat said, adding that while European democrats take a firm stance against right-wing extremism, they remain fully committed to basic rights and freedoms.

“Vance speaks of the annihilation of democracy and, if I understood him correctly, he is comparing the situation in parts of Europe to those in authoritarian regimes. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not acceptable,” Pistorius said.

He emphasized that in Germany's democracy, every opinion has a voice, and far-right parties like the AfD continue their election campaigns today, just as other parties do.

“If the US Vice President had turned on the television when he arrived yesterday, he would have seen a leading candidate from this party on German television in prime time,” he said.

In a fiery speech at the conference earlier on Friday, Vance criticized European politicians, institutions, and courts for what he described as a retreat from democratic principles.

Vance specifically criticized the recent annulment of the presidential election result in Romania, arguing that it undermined democratic foundations.
He also expressed concern over the exclusion of far-right AfD from political processes in Germany, arguing that such actions demonstrated a troubling trend of European countries dismissing their citizens' will.

Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right AfD, welcomed JD Vance's speech after being excluded from the Munich Security Conference because of her party's anti-democratic positions.

"Excellent speech! There's no room for firewalls!" she wrote on X, referring to the established practice of democratic parties refusing to cooperate with the far-right AfD. Weidel also shared a video of Vance's speech with German subtitles.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, also backed Vance's comments by posting on X: “Make Europe Great Again! MEGA, MEGA, MEGA.”

The tech billionaire has repeatedly backed the far-right AfD, despite broad criticism from both center-left and center-right German politicians. On Thursday, Musk posted on X that “AfD is the only hope for Germany.”

The anti-immigrant AfD currently polls at around 20%, positioning it to become the second-largest party in the Feb. 23 elections. However, it will likely remain outside any coalition government, as all other parties have refused to cooperate with the right-wing extremists.

The center-right CDU/CSU alliance, led by Friedrich Merz, holds a commanding lead with 30% in recent surveys. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) stands at 16%, with their coalition partner, the Greens, at 14%.

Though the CDU/CSU alliance leads the polls, they will need to form a coalition government. Merz has not yet indicated whether he would prefer to partner with the SPD or the Greens.