Europe’s top foreign policy official, Kaja Kallas, rejected the Trump administration’s warnings about a “civilizational wipe,” directly challenging the framing as allies gathered in Munich for security talks. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on the day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed European partners, Kallas said the premise did not match how Europe saw itself and where it was headed.
Kallas tied her response to criticism she said was contained in the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which described Europe’s economic outlook as being overshadowed by “the real and more cruder perspective” of a “civilizational wipe.” In that account, the strategy argued Europe was weakening because of migration policies, falling birth rates, “censorship of freedom of expression and the suppression of political opposition,” and what it called a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
In her remarks, Kallas took aim at what she described as the wrong conclusion being drawn from those points. “In contra of what some may say, the progressive and decadent Europe is not facing a civilizational wipe,” she said. She also added that “the people still wants to join our club and not only the Europeans,” and she pointed to a conversation during a visit to Canada last year.
Kallas said the United States should not interpret European engagement on security and values as hostility. She rejected what she called “attacks against Europe” and said, “We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all that, which in reality also brings prosperity to the people. That’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations,” according to her speech at the conference.
Rubio, addressing the same Munich gathering, said the administration’s approach did not amount to abandoning the alliance with Europe. He told allies the end of the transatlantic era “is neither our objective nor our desire,” and he added, “our home can be in the western hemisphere, but we’ll always be a son of Europe.”
Rubio also left clear that the Trump administration plans to press on issues including migration, trade and climate, even as he sought to reassure partners on the broader relationship. European officials who spoke in the encounter, the report said, indicated they would also stick to their own priorities and principles, including their approach to freedom of expression, climate change and free trade.
The exchange also included comments from Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said Saturday that Europe should defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent.” Starmer added that Europe should show that people who see themselves as different can live together “in peace” and said that “this does not go against the tone of our times,” adding “rather, it is what makes us strong.”
Kallas said Rubio’s message carried an important signal about how the relationship would continue. She said it showed that the United States and Europe were “and will keep being” intertwined, adding: “Also, it is clear that we don’t fully agree on all the topics and this will keep being so, but I think we can work from there.”
Moulson reported from Berlin. Jill Lawless, in London, contributed to the dispatch.