Europe is up in arms after JD Vance's stern speech in Munich

European leaders, especially German ones, did not take kindly at all to the tough speech of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who at the important Munich Security Conference criticized the state of democracy on the 'Old Continent,' warning with concern about violations of free speech and the reluctance of traditional parties to work with conservative or populist dissenting voices.

"Free speech, I fear, is in retreat and in the interests of comedy, my friends, but also in the interest of truth. I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation," Vance said. "Misinformation, like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth."

In particular, Vance said he is concerned that countries such as Sweden and the United Kingdom no longer have, in his view, respect for freedoms of speech and religion. He also took aim at the European Commission for its threats of digital censorship and stated that in robust democracies there is no room for "firewall" tactics, a type of practice used in Europe to avoid pacting against parties considered "threats to democracies" by the political establishment.

Vance's harsh speech, however, went down very poorly with certain leaders of Europe, especially in Berlin.

The harshest reaction against the U.S. vice president came from Germany's defense minister, Social Democrat Boris Pistorius, who said Vance's words were "unacceptable."

"He spoke of a collapse of democracy and, if I understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe to those of authoritarian regimes," Pistorius said. "That is unacceptable, and it is not the Europe or the democracy that I live in and am currently campaigning in."

On Vance's words related to "firewall" tactics, Pistorius responded by pointing out that "every opinion has a voice in this democracy, and this makes it possible for partially extremist parties like AfD to campaign completely normally, like the other parties."

However, he added that "democracy does not mean that a noisy minority is automatically right," and that "democracy must be able to defend itself against extremists who want to destroy it."

It was not only Pistorus who reacted. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said allies should be more concerned about bigger threats such as Russia's invasion against Ukraine.

"Listening to that speech, they are trying to pick a fight with us and we don't want to pick a fight with our friends," Kallas told the Munich Security Conference, dismissing JD Vance's words.

According to Reuters, Kallas later invited EU foreign ministers to meet on Sunday to talk about Ukraine and relations with Washington, a reaction that shows the dismay caused by Vance's speech.

"The aim of the meeting will be to share information and take stock of recent contacts with representatives of the U.S. administration and Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference," the invitation for the meeting said, Reuters reported.

In addition to German leaders and others from Brussels, more center-left European politicians, such as Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, questioned the U.S. vice president's speech.

"He talks as if we are not focused on immigration in Europe," Gahr Støre said. "I mean, this is the big issue in all countries: we want to have control over our borders."

"I don't agree with him that what's happening in Ukraine, what's happening in Russia, what's happening in China is less important than the alleged loss of freedom of speech in Europe," the Norwegian prime minister sentenced.

JD Vance's speech and the criticism of European leaders comes, moreover, right in the middle of the progress of negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine led by President Donald Trump.

Such negotiations were negatively received by several European leaders, such as the Spanish president, the social democrat Pedro Sanchez, and also the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who accused Trump and US tech tycoons of wanting to destroy democracy before JD Vance's speech.

"It is clear that the new US administration has a very different worldview from ours, which does not respect established rules, alliances or the trust that has been built up over time, but I am convinced that it is not in the interest of the international community that this worldview becomes the dominant paradigm," Steinmeier said.

However, not all European leaders reacted negatively to Trump and Vance's positions on Ukraine and the need for a Europe that steps forward to strengthen its democracy.

French President Emmanuel Macron was one of the strong voices backing Washington's position.

"I just spoke with President Zelensky. If President Trump can truly convince President Putin to stop the aggression against Ukraine, that is great news," Macron said. "Then, it will be the Ukrainians alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace. We will help them in this endeavor."

"And we, Europeans, will need to strengthen our collective security and become more autonomous. France will fully play its role in accelerating this process. A stronger and more sovereign Europe, let's make it happen now," Macron said.