At the Munich security conference, US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke more warmly about the transatlantic relationship than US vice-president J.D. Vance at the same venue last year. However, faced with the presidency of the erratic Donald Trump, the need for Europe to do more to protect its security remains urgent.
In a later speech in Munich Kaja Kallas, vice-president of the European Commission and the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, spoke of the “need to reclaim European agency”.
Meanwhile, UK prime minister Keir Starmer announced he wants closer relations with Europe, a decade after Brexit, stating: “there is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history, and is today’s reality as well.”
