JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday became the major global political talking point of the weekend.
After the US vice-president accused the European establishment of undermining democracy and freedom of expression, the conference chairman, Christopher Heusgen, could not hold back his tears.
Heusgen's breakdown came in front of the European political establishment after he referred to Vance's speech, in which the US Vice President criticized, among other things, the annulment of elections by EU leaders in member states, the Union's increasingly totalitarian tendencies and politicians' growing fear of their own voters.
– After the speech of Vice President Vance on Friday, we have to fear that our common value base are not so common anymore, said an emotionally shaken Heusgen, who appealed to European leaders to "reaffirm the values and principles they defend", which he said Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyj had done better than anyone else.
– I am very grateful to all those European politicians who stood up and reaffirmed the values and principles they are defending. No one did this better than President Zelensky, he continued.
But as he neared the end of his speech, he couldn't hold back the tears any longer and started to sob out the words:
– Let me conclude... this will be difficult...
The hall was filled with applause of sympathy, with one female conference participant taking the crying Heusgen in her arms.
Organizers of Munich Security Conference firmly deny in a public statement that Heusgen started crying out of frustration after Vance's speech – instead, they claim that the tears were due to his resignation as chairman of the power forum, with emotions taking over.
Our former Chair Christoph Heusgen did not shed a few tears out of "frustration". It was his farewell speech as he was leaving the MSC after this year's conference. He was saying goodbye to the team at this very moment. The video snippet here is edited together. You can see the… https://t.co/J5dbLtLuOr
— Munich Security Conference (@MunSecConf) February 17, 2025
Vance's speech shakes up the EU elite
During his speech on Friday, JD Vance condemned the EU leaders' handling of democracy and freedom of expression, saying the biggest threat to the continent is that Europe is abandoning its own fundamental values.
He cited the recent annulment of a presidential election by the Romanian government, supported by former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who has also hinted that the German elections could be annulled if Alternative for Germany wins.
– We’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. But when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard, said the US Vice President.
– If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with, he continued.
Vance also highlighted how the EU continues to push for digital censorship, threatening to shut down social media that publish supposed "disinformation" – a rhetoric he compared to that of the former communist Eastern bloc.
– I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be, quote, "hateful content".
He also touched on Sweden's verdict against the murdered Iraqi Koran burner Salwan Momika's colleague who was convicted of participating in the actions.
– As the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant, and I’m quoting, "a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief".
Met with AfD leader – condemned the "firewall policy" against the party
During his stay in Munich, Vance also met AfD leader Alice Weidel for a brief meeting in a discussion that centered on Ukraine, German domestic politics and freedom of expression.
One of the issues raised was the so-called "Brandmauer" strategy, a term for the refusal of established German parties to cooperate with the increasingly successful opposition AfD, which has now become the second largest party in the country according to opinion polls ahead of the German parliamentary elections on February 23. Vance has previously criticized the so-called firewall policy, saying it goes against democratic principles.
The same conference where Putin became a pariah
The Munich Security Conference has long been known for bringing together high-profile leaders. It was also here, at the 2007 conference, that Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his famous speech rejecting what he described as the "unipolar world order", with clear warnings that the US's growing disregard for the security interests of other countries could lead to devastating consequences in the long run.
The speech has since been described as a watershed moment as Putin would be labeled a pariah by the US-led Western bloc power establishment.
