U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks in the course of the Munich Safety Convention (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 14, 2026.
Thilo Schmuelgen | Reuters
The U.S. has no intention of abandoning its deep alliance with Europe and desires the area to succeed, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned on Saturday.
“We care deeply about your future and ours,” Rubio advised the Munich Safety Convention (MSC).
“We wish Europe to be sturdy,” he mentioned. “We imagine that Europe should survive, as a result of the 2 nice wars of the final century serve, for us, as historical past’s nice reminder, that in the end, our future is, and can all the time be, intertwined with yours.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has regularly criticized Europe for being too reliant on the U.S. for its safety and has pushed NATO allies to spice up protection spending. His pursuit of possession of Greenland, a Danish territory, has additionally rattled European leaders in latest months.
“We don’t have to abandon the system of worldwide cooperation we authored, and we need not dismantle the worldwide establishments of the previous order that collectively we constructed. However these have to be reformed. These have to be rebuilt,” Rubio mentioned.
The U.S.’s prime diplomat advised the gathering of European leaders that American management has succeeded in resolving thorny points such because the Israel-Gaza battle and made progress in ending Russia’s conflict with Ukraine which multilateral organizations together with the U.N. have to this point didn’t.
“The United Nations nonetheless has great potential to be a instrument for good on the planet, however we can not ignore that as we speak, on essentially the most urgent issues earlier than us, it has no solutions and has performed nearly no position. It couldn’t clear up the conflict in Gaza,” Rubio mentioned. “As a substitute, it was American management that freed captives from barbarians and led to a fragile truce. It has not solved the conflict in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in the course of the 62nd Munich Safety Convention (MSC) on February 14, 2026 in Munich, southern Germany. (Photograph by THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Thomas Kienzle | Afp | Getty Pictures
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to the U.S. for its assist in Ukraine’s battle in opposition to Russia.
“I’m grateful to each American coronary heart that was serving to us it doesn’t matter what. Thanks. With out you, Individuals, Europeans and everybody who stands with us, it could have been very, very troublesome to carry on,” Zelenskyy mentioned to applause.
However he criticized the administration of Trump’s predecessor for being gradual to ramp up navy assist to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy additionally had harsh phrases for Iran’s authorities, which he accused of supplying the drones Russia makes use of to assault Ukrainian territory.
“Ukraine doesn’t share a border with Iran and we’ve by no means had a battle of pursuits with the Iranian regime,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “However the Iranian Shahed drones they bought to Russia are killing, particularly, our folks, Ukrainians, and destroying our infrastructure.”
NATO Secretary Normal Mark Rutte, talking subsequent to Zelenskyy, urged member international locations to step up navy assist for Ukraine beneath the alliance’s Prioritised Ukraine Necessities Listing (PURL) initiative.
“Preserve (Ukraine) sturdy within the battle. They’ll do it, however they want our assist,” Rutte mentioned.
European independence
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, talking after Rubio on the convention, mentioned the area faces “the very distinct risk of outdoor forces making an attempt to weaken our union from inside, the return of overtly hostile competitors and energy relations.”
Von der Leyen mentioned Europe must grow to be extra impartial “in each dimension that impacts our safety and prosperity, protection and power, economic system and commerce, uncooked supplies and digital tech.”
However she emphasised that that doesn’t imply weakening the trans-Atlantic bond.
“The other is true and we have simply heard it from State Secretary Rubio. An impartial Europe is a robust Europe and a robust Europe makes for a stronger transatlantic alliance.”
On Friday, the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, urged European leaders to face as much as Russian aggression.
“The lesson realized is that appeasement all the time brings new wars,” Kallas advised CNBC in an interview. “That is very clear. If you happen to assume that, okay, allow them to have this territory. … We could have peace that’s truly by no means going to work. It truly will increase the urge for food. They walked away with extra territory, extra valuables, than they’d earlier than.”
Additionally talking to CNBC on Friday forward of the convention, Wolfgang Ischinger, the group’s chairman, mentioned it was Europe’s “personal fault” that its energy on the worldwide stage has been diminished.
“Europe has failed to talk with one voice to China and about China, Europe has failed with one voice, to give you a transparent idea about the way forward for the Center East, together with about learn how to deal or to not take care of the Iranian nuclear query,” mentioned Ischinger, who’s a former German ambassador to the U.S.
Earlier this week, the MSC revealed its 2026 report, for which Ischinger wrote the foreword. It warned that “the world has entered a interval of wrecking-ball politics,” the place “sweeping destruction … is the order of the day.”
The report mentioned that Trump was “on the forefront of those that promise to free their international locations from the present order’s constraints and rebuild stronger, extra affluent nations,” arguing he was only one motion “pushed by resentment and remorse over the liberal trajectory their societies have launched into.”
Ischinger mentioned that Europeans have been “completely on the sidelines” on negotiations round Gaza and Ukraine.
Financial cooperation
Rubio mentioned the U.S. sought a “reinvigorated alliance” with Europe, “one that doesn’t preserve the well mannered pretense that our lifestyle is only one amongst many and that asks for permission earlier than it acts.”
In a wide-ranging speech, Rubio criticized previous insurance policies that inspired mass migration, outsourced provide chains and contributed to “deindustrialization,” which he mentioned was “not inevitable.”
“It was a acutely aware coverage selection, a decades-long financial enterprise that stripped our nations of their wealth, of their productive capability, and of their independence. And the lack of our provide chain sovereignty was not a perform of a affluent and wholesome system of worldwide commerce. It was silly,” Rubio mentioned.
Rubio additionally mentioned how better trans-Atlantic cooperation may reposition the West to guide in Twenty first-Century industries.
“Collectively, we will reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our capability to defend our folks,” he mentioned.
“Business house journey and cutting-edge synthetic intelligence, industrial automation and flex manufacturing, making a Western provide chain for vital minerals not susceptible to extortion from different powers, and a unified effort to compete for market share within the economies of the worldwide South.”
