Global movers and shakers are gathering in southern Germany for the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC), which opens on Friday in the shadow of what its own report calls an international order “under destruction”.
Organisers expect more than 60 heads of state and government, and around 100 foreign and defence ministers, to gather in Munich's Bayerischer Hof from Friday through Sunday. In total, more than 1,000 delegates from 120 countries are set to attend.
The 2026 Munich Security Report, titled “Under Destruction” and published last Monday, sets a stark tone.
It argues that the post-1945 order led by the United States is now being actively dismantled by “wrecking-ball politics” – not only by revisionist powers, but by movements inside Western democracies that favour demolition over reform.
The most powerful of the “demolition men”, it contends, is US President Donald Trump, whose administration has slashed foreign aid, walked away from key multilateral bodies and imposed sweeping tariffs that defy World Trade Organization rules.
According to the report, Trump’s second term has seen a “renunciation of core elements” of traditional US strategy: faith in multilateral institutions, support for an open trading system, and the role of “leader of the free world”.
Instead, it sketches an emerging order of transactional deals, regional spheres of influence and “neo-royalist” elites, in which private interests increasingly trump public ones.
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European dependence
For Europeans, Munich comes at a moment the report describes as “a prolonged era of confrontation”.
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, now approaching its fourth year, has shattered the post-Cold War security settlement, while Moscow steps up hybrid operations across the continent from cyber attacks to sabotage.
At the same time, Washington’s “gradual retreat, wavering support for Ukraine, and threatening rhetoric on Greenland” have exposed Europe’s dependence on the US security umbrella, according to the MSC report.
It notes that US military assistance to Ukraine has dropped sharply since early 2025, forcing European allies and partners to shoulder most of the burden – including via a new NATO mechanism that channels European funds into US-made weapons for Kyiv.
Europe’s defence dilemma: autonomy or dependence?
European leaders will arrive in Munich keen to show they are finally shifting from “security consumers” to security providers, pointing to steep increases in defence spending and efforts to coordinate industrial policy.
But the report warns of “multiple speeds” within Europe, as fiscally stronger northern and eastern states surge ahead while more indebted southern economies struggle with the new informal NATO goal to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence by 2035.
Beyond Europe, the report highlights China's economic and military dominance in Asia. It contrasts Washington's growing unease over Chinese pressure on Taiwan and in the South China Sea with US policies that hover between confrontational language, harsh tariffs and overtures to Beijing.
Major test
The MSC report notes that in most NATO countries surveyed, majorities now see the US as a less reliable ally, and the West as less united than a decade ago.
The conference will again be a major test of transatlantic ties.
Last year’s incendiary appearance by Vice-President JD Vance, who claimed that mass immigration posed the most urgent danger to Europe, shocked many in the hall. This year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads a large US delegation that includes some 50 members of Congress.
Some 5,000 police officers will be on duty in Munich, with reinforcements from France, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Airspace over the city will be closed for the duration of the event.
Outside the secure zone, 21 demonstrations are officially planned, including two large rallies against Iran’s government and a separate protest by opponents of the conference itself that could draw up to 4,000 people on Saturday.
Police also expect significant numbers of people for the Iran protests, with demonstrators arriving from across Europe.
