Summary of the day
Politicians, diplomats, civil society representatives and businesspeople met for the third and last day of this year’s Munich Security Conference.
David Lammy, the British shadow foreign secretary, said that he wants a new security pact between the EU and the UK.
J.D. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, said the future of US foreign policy is a pivot to East Asia and “Europe has to wake up to that fact.”
He also argued that the US doesn’t produce sufficient munitions to support Ukraine and that “what’s reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace.”
Ricarda Lang, co-chair of Germany’s Alliance 90/The Greens, gave a rebuttal, saying that Vladimir Putin has shown he doesn’t want peace.
Poland’s foreign affairs minister, Radek Sikorski, and Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Olha Stefanishyna, both said issues between Poland and Ukraine over grain and trucking need to be resolved.
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said that “we should not be responsible for cleaning Israel’s mess” and that “we all cannot have peace” unless Palestinians have a right to statehood.
The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said that “what is immediately needed is a ceasefire and what is more needed is to allow international aid to get into Gaza.”
The EU’s policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians, “if we want to play a geopolitical role in this issue, we have to be more united.”
Borrell also said “the West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution.”
Finland’s president-elect, Alexander Stubb, said that “this is our 1918, 1945, 1989 moment, of our generation.”
Angus Lapsley, Nato’s assistant secretary general for defence policy and planning, summarised his impressions of this year’s conference in Munich.
“For me this year it was how allies and industry are coming to terms with scale/pace of change and investment needed to deliver collective defence. Our job at NATO is giving them the plan,” he wrote.
Wheels up from @MunSecConf. Everyone has a different experience of defence Glastonbury. For me this year it was how allies and industry are coming to terms with scale/pace of change and investment needed to deliver collective defence. Our job at @NATO is giving them the plan. pic.twitter.com/abpCdXZbE9
— Angus Lapsley (@ACWLapsley) February 18, 2024
Munich Security Conference ends
Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, is closing the three-day event.
“We started this conference on an extremely sad note, and this was the death of Alexei Navalny,” he said, pointing to the speech of Alexei’s wife, Yulia, at the conference.
He added:
I found the silver lining in the determination of the speech of the Ukrainian president, Mr. Zelenskyi. I find it in the strength of the many Ukrainians we have here, from civil society, from parliament. And I also find the strengthen in the determination of the … transatlantic community.
Yes, there are challenges.
But one of the features of this conference has always been that we have a congressional delegation, that we have Democrats and Republicans coming here, and I felt at least, that there is a dynamic – that our American partners, that the senators, that the members of the House of Representatives from both aisles, they will find a way very quickly how we can provide the support for the Ukrainian people that they deserve, that they need to defend our freedom.
On the European side, Heusgen said he found “a lot of satisfaction” in what leaders said.
However he added: “we cannot afford the luxury of waiting more to get the European defence organised.”
On the Middle East, the MSC chair said “it was heartbreaking to see up here the photographs of the hostages” and that “it was horrible to hear a new figure of 17,000 orphans in Gaza.”
He added:
Where is the silver lining? I found the silver lining in something that happened here that Munich stands for, peace through dialogue.
I found a silver lining in a meeting that took place here between the president of Israel and the prime minister of Qatar.
And I found a silver lining in president Herzog standing up here and thanking the prime minister of Qatar for what he is doing to try to come to a solution.
This solution can only be a ceasefire, so that the hostages are freed and that the suffering of the people stops.
He also said this year’s conference looked at other conflicts and challenges, and that we have to open up.
“This Munich conference has been the most diverse,” he said.
He finished the conference saying that Bayern Munich, which has lost two games in a row, is playing this afternoon “and I hope there is a silver lining.”
Updated
Key event
Finland’s president-elect, Alexander Stubb, said in Munich that “this is our 1918, 1945, 1989 moment, of our generation.”
He said:
I think for the next ten years, we will live in an age of ‘unpeace’, where international rules and institutions will continue to be challenged, we will live in an age of unrest, where there will be a lot of conflicts popping up left and right.
And I think the big – if not a battlefield, at least spheres of interest – is going to be between the global west, which tries to protect the current system, global east – China, Russia– which tries to challenge it, and the global south, which will have a big role in deciding in the way in which way it goes.
Updated
Israeli diplomat Jonathan Rosenzweig has responded to Mohammad Shtayyeh’s comments in Munich, criticising the Palestinian Authority.
Since 7/10, the PA is investing a lot of effort to destroy any bridges of trust left standing between Palestinians and Israelis.
— Jonathan Rosenzweig (@JonRosenzweig) February 18, 2024
It started with the inability to condemn the massacre, continued to denial of the atrocities and now to erasing history and truth.
This is not the way… https://t.co/7zU60OPYka
The Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer said one of his takeaways from the Munich Security Conference is that “Israel has become much more internationally isolated.”
one big takeaway from munich security council this year is israel has become much more internationally isolated—including from friends and allies—than they think.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 18, 2024
Just as leaders and ministers gathered in Munich discuss the situation in the Middle East, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has made an announcement.
“In light of remarks that have been heard recently in the international community about an attempt to unilaterally force a Palestinian state on Israel, today I submit for government approval a declarative decision on the issue,” he said.
The proposed declaration states:
Israel absolutely rejects international diktat regarding the permanent arrangement with the Palestinians.
Such an arrangement will be achieved only by direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.
Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
Such recognition, following the 7 October massacre, will award an immense and unprecedented prize to terrorism, and prevent any future peace agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, today , at the start of the Government meeting >>https://t.co/Dc7LhabioQ pic.twitter.com/Je56O7LoqM
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 18, 2024
Updated
Speaking in Munich earlier today, the Palestinian Authority’s prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, stressed that “what is immediately needed is a ceasefire and what is more needed is to allow international aid to get into Gaza, not only through one single entry, but through all the entries that are there.”
He also said he believes Egypt would not allow Palestinians to enter its territory.
“We don’t want Palestinians to move from Gaza into Egypt,” Shtayyeh said. “People should be allowed to go back to their homes,” he added.
Updated
The dynamics at this morning’s panel underscored shifts in transatlantic dynamics.
Never thought I should see the day that a Republican Senator wants to cut a deal with Putin while the Green Party chair argues against negotiations and for more weapons deliveries @JDVance1 @Ricarda_Lang #MSC2024 #MSC24 @MunSecConf
— Joerg Lau (@joerglau) February 18, 2024
Updated
EU needs to be more united if it wants role in Middle East, foreign policy chief says
The EU’s policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference that “the question is, is there a political space for Europe to support a two-state solution?”
“I think it is, but for that we need to be more united,” he said, adding:
If we want to play a geopolitical role in this issue, we have to be more united, as we have been in the case of Ukraine, where with maybe the exception of a single country, our unity has been remarkable. But here I see, that there is a dispersion of approaches, and many member states want to play own game.
He also said:
Without a clear prospect for the Palestinian people, [there] will not be peace in the Middle East, and the security of Israel will not be ensured just by military means.
Updated
'West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution,' Borrell says
Speaking of the Middle East, Josep Borrell said:
We need to promote a political solution. A comprehensive one, which includes not only Gaza but also the West Bank.
Borrell said he is surprised everyone talks about ending the war in Gaza.
“Yes, we have to end the war in Gaza. But, nobody has talked a lot about the West Bank. And the West Bank is the real obstacle for the two-state solution,” he said.
He added:
The West Bank is boiling. The level of violence against the Palestinians has been increasing since the seventh of October. It was already very high before that.
And if now UNRWA has to stop supporting the Palestinian people in the West Bank, we could be on the eve of a greater explosion.
Europe needs to 'consider different scenarios' on US engagement, foreign policy chief says
Speaking in Munich, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the most important geopolitical issues facing the EU today are related to Ukraine, Gaza and the global south – as well as defence.
“We have to increase and provide Ukraine with security commitments,” he said, adding that “the most important security commitment for Ukraine is membership” of the EU.
He also warned that “we have to consider different scenarios about how much engaged will US be on European security.”
Updated
'We should not be responsible for cleaning Israel’s mess,' Jordanian minister says
Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said in Munich that “we should not be responsible for cleaning Israel’s mess.”
He added:
What we see in Gaza is a devastating war, mass murder, a destruction of the livelihood of 2 million people, pushing people to the abyss, destroying hospitals, killing journalists, killing medics, killing humanitarian workers.
And we got to frame things in the right context: the root cause of all of this is occupation.
Safadi also said:
We’re a country that made peace with Israel 30 years ago, but we made peace within the context of a broader peace that should allow for regional conditions that will ensure safety, security, dignity for all people, for Israelis and Palestinians.
But Israel cannot have security unless Palestinians have security. We all cannot have peace unless the Palestinian people have their legitimate right to statehood and freedom and dignity fulfilled.
This seems to have been pushed under tons of layers of ignorance and acting as if Palestinians do not exist.
Updated
The Labour party’s announcement that it will seek a security and defence agreement with the EU if elected to power later this year confirms what many expected.
The UK left the EU without such a deal after Boris Johnson, the prime minister who delivered Brexit to the country, decided against informing the then EU negotiator Michel Barnier during trade negotiations that the EU would not be seeking such a deal.
By that stage relations between the UK and the EU were poor and deteriorating. The UK wanted a clean-break Brexit and to “take back control” of policing and remove the threat of a European army from its future.
His decision was a complete U-turn on the “road to Brexit” that his predecessor Theresa May had mapped out in Munich in 2018 when she called for a new “special partnership” which she said would “retain the co-operation that we have built and go further in meeting the evolving threats we face together”.
But the ongoing war in Ukraine has made the Labour position more palatable, even to a Conservative audience.
In fact the current foreign secretary David Cameron, May’s predecessor in Downing Street, will brief EU foreign ministers, by video, in Brussels on Monday on the UK’s approach to the Middle East and the conflict in the Red Sea.
Responding to the Polish foreign minister on stage, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said:
We have to solve it. There are legitimate messages on both sides.
I think that the major contribution in resolving these issues has been done by Ukraine, because we secured the Black Sea. And now the grain is easily releasable through the Black Sea. We also have done our steps that we ensured the control of exports to neighbouring countries.
So there are some steps done, but we have to solve it.
Updated
We need to solve grain and trucking problems, Polish minister says while stressing solidarity
Poland’s Radek Sikorski stressed Poland’s support for Ukraine but acknowledged that Warsaw and Kyiv have two problems linked to grain and trucking.
This is difficult because it’s structural.
He added:
We need to solve this so as not to cloud the overall picture of great Polish solidarity with Ukraine.
And there is a solution on the horizon to both of them – which is Ukraine’s victory in the Black Sea.
The reason why the trucking is so vital is that Ukraine wasn’t able to export its goods via the sea. And the same for grain. If we really and truly recover the control by Ukraine of western Black Sea, it will also help to address these issues.
Updated
Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, said on a panel together with Georgia’s president Salome Zourabichvili that “it’s very important” that the country’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now in jail, be “treated fairly and perhaps you could contribute to his release.”
“Those who wish Georgia well would welcome it,” he said.
Responding to Republican senator J.D. Vance, German politician Ricarda Lang pushed back at the idea of a deal with Russia.
Putin has shown over and over again – and he just showed this with the murder of Navalny on Friday – that he has no interest in peace at the moment. That he does not want peace.
So if you say we stop supporting Ukraine, stop giving weapons to them, you are not having some scenario where this leads to peace, but at the moment this leads to two scenarios: either you are prolonging the war, or you give up Ukraine and Putin wins.
Updated
Republican senator says Putin not existential threat to Europe, negotiated peace with Russia reasonable
J.D. Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio, said he believes Donald Trump doesn’t want to abandon Europe, but “is actually issuing a wake up call to say that Europe has to take a bigger role in its own security.”
He added: “I do not think that Vladimir Putin is an existential threat to Europe, and to the extent that he is, again, that suggests that Europe has to take a more aggressive role in its own security.”
The senator said that “given the realities” his argument is that “what’s reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace.”
I think Russia has incentive to come to the table right now.
I think Ukraine, Europe and the United States have incentive to come to the table.
That is going to happen. This will end in a negotiated peace, the question is when it ends in negotiated peace, and what that looks like.
Updated
The limiting factor for US support to Ukraine, the Republican senator J.D. Vance argued in Munich, is “not money, it’s munitions.”
We don’t make enough munitions to support a war in eastern Europe, a war in the Middle East and potentially contingency in East Asia. So the United States is fundamentally limited.
Updated
Europe needs to 'wake up' to US pivot, Republican senator says in Munich
Speaking on stage, J.D. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, said that “Donald Trump was maybe the best president at deterring Russia in a generation.”
He added:
On the question of European security: I think there’s a fundamental issue here that Europe really has to wake up to.
And I offer this in the spirit of friendship, not in the spirit of criticism. Because no, I don’t think that we should pull out of Nato, and no, I don’t think that we should abandon Europe. But yes, I think that we should pivot.
The United States has to focus more on East Asia, that is going to be the future of American foreign policy for the next forty years.
And Europe has to wake up to that fact.
Updated
Asked how he sees his proposed security pact, David Lammy said:
There are a number of issues. Procurement and joint and shared procurement, remains a significant challenge. And there does need to be complementarity across Europe.
We should not be replicating in one country what another country can do.
Clearly, our industrial capacity needs work. There is industrial capacity currently in the UK, with important companies like BAE Systems working there.
Again, that will have to be a shared endeavour. And some of that endeavour, of course, will always continue to be transatlantic, working with our American partners.
So I think that there are, in fact, significant areas, where we can work together.
And going forward, just as we came together to determine the rules that should govern our global system after the Second World War, when we think about AI, when we think about quantum, when we think about advances in biotech, again, that takes shared endeavour. And we’ll have to do that at speed.
You know, sometimes, Europe can feel rather sluggish and bureaucratic. We will have to do that at speed. The urgency of war in Europe, I hope, reminds us of that fact.
British shadow foreign secretary calls for UK-EU security pact
David Lammy, the British shadow foreign secretary, said on stage at the Munich Security Conference that he wants a new security pact between the EU and the UK.
He said:
Of course I’m hoping that there is a general election this year and I have the privilege of becoming the UK foreign secretary, because it’s absolutely fundamental that the United Kingdom and Europe have the closest of relationships and the Brexit era is over, the situation is settled.
And what my party is proposing is a new EU-UK security pact. And it’s a pact that is effectively built on the fact that we obviously have war here in Europe.
But the truth is, and it’s important that we summon up to the room the courage of Alexei Navalny – what it reminds is that not withstanding that war, Russia will continue to be a threat for Europe for months, years, perhaps a generation more.
And that means that the defence capability of the UK, alongside our partners in France particularly representing about 50% of Europe’s defence capability, but also the intelligence capability of the Five Eyes system in partnership with the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, is absolutely essential, and is why we need now a new security pact.
Now, that security pact is not to rival Nato, it is to run in parallel with Nato.
Updated
Ricarda Lang, co-chair of Germany’s Alliance 90/The Greens, said at the Munich Security Conference that she grew up with the notion of the end of history but that this has changed dramatically over the past years.
“For us, as Europe, this is the question: how can we strengthen our democracy?” she said.
Internally, Europe needs to come closer together, she said.
In terms of security, the question of how to support Ukraine “is of the utmost importance,” she stressed. The question of whether democracies prevail is linked to whether Ukraine prevails, according to Lang.
The first panel this morning has an interesting lineup: it includes J.D. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, Ricarda Lang, co-chair of the Alliance 90/The Greens in Germany, David Lammy, the British shadow foreign secretary, , and Priyanka Chaturvedi, deputy leader of the Shiv Sena party in India’s parliament.
Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to a special edition of the Europe blog, coming to you from the Munich Security Conference.
It’s the third and last day of the conference, which for decades has brought together key policymakers from around the globe to Munich for debates on security.
Questions over the future of western assistance to Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hamas, and the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny dominated discussions in the historic Hotel Bayerischer Hof.
Today, discussions will continue, with speakers including Finland’s president-elect Alexander Stubb, British shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Stay tuned for updates.
