On February 14th, local time, US Vice President Vance gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which shocked the entire European continent.

According to reports from the British "The Guardian", Reuters, the Politico EU and other media, Europeans originally expected Vance to talk about the United States' views on key issues such as the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, China, Russia, and US-European security differences in his speech, but he chose to avoid them all and instead launched a "brutal ideological attack" on Europe.

"What I'm worried about is the threat from within," Vance said. He believes that the real threat Europe faces does not come from external forces such as Russia or China, but from Europe's own internal deviation from its "most basic values." He has repeatedly questioned whether the United States and Europe still have a common agenda.

In his speech, Vance sharply accused EU leaders of suppressing freedom of speech and religion, failing to stop illegal immigration, and escaping reality out of fear of the true will of voters. He named the United Kingdom, Germany, Romania, Sweden and other countries, painted a picture of European politics affected by media censorship, election cancellation and political correctness, and openly questioned whether current European values ​​are worthy of the United States defending.

After the speech, Vance violated previous etiquette and declined an invitation to meet Scholz, the German chancellor and leader of the SPD, and met privately for 30 minutes with Weidel, leader of the German far-right party AfD.

"Cruel," "sharp," "shocked," "angry"... When talking about their feelings about the speech, a number of European media and officials described it unanimously. Reuters stated that Vance’s attack on Europe has cast a shadow on the upcoming Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Politico EU stated that Vance delivered a "fatal blow" to the Munich Conference. In an instant, the hundreds of foreign dignitaries present were all talking about the content of his speech, and no one cared about other issues.

These sharp and confrontational remarks left the audience "stunned" and were strongly condemned by the European Union and European countries such as Germany, Poland, and Norway. But at the same time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban echoed Vance’s statement. Musk praised Vance for delivering a "Make Europe Great Again" (MEGA) speech and retweeted a tweet calling for Vance to serve as "European President."

In this regard, the "Guardian" pointed out that this shows that the transatlantic divide is deepening. The United States and Europe not only have different views on Russia, but also have huge differences on deeper issues such as values ​​​​and democracy. European governments have been unable to paper over this divide.

Everyone present was shocked

According to a Reuters reporter's observation at the scene, during Vance's speech, the audience was "all stunned" and "there was no applause."

Politico EU interviewed several participants from various European countries, and their reactions were both shocked and angry. In the conference room, attendees laughed sarcastically when Vance mentioned "shared values." People present said more than once that Vance's speech was "really weird."

A German diplomat said bluntly: "This is all so crazy and so worrying." A former Democratic staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives had the same reaction: "I was stunned. What is this? I was stunned in a room full of stunned people. It was terrible."

On the court, Vance's remarks silenced politicians and experts from various countries; outside the court, European countries such as the European Union and Germany strongly condemned it.

European Commission President von der Leyen has yet to respond, but gave a speech diametrically opposed to Vance at the Munich Security Conference on the same day. She emphasized the common trade and security challenges faced by the United States and Western societies and made strong criticisms of Russia.

EU foreign and security policy chief Kallas said Vance's speech sounded like the United States was trying to "provoke disputes" and called on the United States and Europe to pay attention to greater threats, such as Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine. "Listening to that speech, it seemed like they were trying to pick a fight with us, but we don't want to pick a fight with our friends," she told the Munich Security Conference.

Kallas then invited EU foreign ministers to meet on Sunday (16th) to discuss the Ukraine issue and relations with the Trump administration.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius responded more bluntly, calling Vance's criticism of Germany "unacceptable." "If I understand him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe to that in authoritarian regimes," he said. "This is unacceptable and this is not the Europe and democratic countries in which I live and am campaigning."

Before Vance spoke, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier accused Trump and tech giants of trying to destroy democracy. He said: "It is clear that the new US administration has a worldview that is completely different from ours. This worldview does not respect established rules, partnerships or long-established trust. But I firmly believe that it is not in the interests of the international community to allow this worldview to become the dominant paradigm."

Polish Prime Minister Tusk posted a message on social media X, quoting the late Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II's "Do not be afraid" speech and calling on "the Polish nation to strengthen its resistance against Russian comrades."

Norwegian Prime Minister Støre took issue with Vance's push for European officials to curb illegal immigration. He said: "He spoke as if we are not concerned about migration in Europe. But it is a topic that every country is concerned about and we want to control our borders." He also said: "I disagree with him that what is happening in Ukraine, Russia and China is not as important as the loss of free speech in Europe."

A French representative at the meeting said she had expected Vance to talk about Russia and Ukraine. "I can't believe he's talking about freedom of expression in Europe," Natalya Puzirev, a member of the French parliament and secretary of the defense committee, told Reuters.

However, in Europe, Vance didn't receive only criticism and negative remarks.

On the same day, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban tweeted: "Since 2015, we have been saying that large-scale illegal immigration is the source of disaster... We are not happy that time has proved us right, but we are happy that Hungary did not fall into this madness."

An anonymous European diplomat praised Vance's speech, saying, "This is a very tough speech. Many people won't like it. But many will silently agree with him, just not express it. The EU has a double standard in dealing with the democratic processes of different European countries."

Before Vance's speech, Europeans might still have harbored a glimmer of hope.

Vance delivered an impassioned speech at the Munich Security Conference, his first appearance on the world stage as U.S. vice president. After his speech, he shocked the European continent and became the focus of discussion among participants throughout the conference.

One senior Eastern European official said that in Munich, "no one is talking about anything else."

"This is an American-style 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) speech." Politico EU said that Vance did not discuss the theme of the Munich Security Conference - national defense and security - in detail. Despite the strong criticism, many people admit that Vance's real audience is not in Munich, but in the MAGA group in the United States, and has achieved success.

Later in the day, U.S. President Trump praised Vance. He said that Vance's speech was "very exciting" and "very popular" and that Europe "must be careful" about the issues such as freedom of speech and immigration raised by Vance.

Musk retweeted a tweet calling for Vance to serve as "European President," praising him for delivering a "Make Europe Great Again" (MEGA)-style speech.

"I hope Europeans will realize that their days of free riding on the United States are over." U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said after Vance's speech. "Europe used to have a pretty good life, but those days are gone forever."

The Guardian mentioned that Vance’s speech also received favorable reviews in Russia. "It was great to hear Vance's speech," the Russian journalist said on Russian state television Rossiya 1. "It was a public flogging (for Europe) and I can't describe it any other way."

Many former and current U.S. officials believe that this speech is iconic. A former senior U.S. diplomat said: "This is a new America. The old America that Europe has been used to for decades is obviously no longer there. This could be a real wake-up call for Europe."

"It's just crazy," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder told Politico EU that Vance missed an opportunity to explain the Trump team's position on the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. "He just said that we believe there should be peace in the end, that's all. He didn't say a word about territorial and border issues, security issues, sanctions, support for Ukraine and their future."

The Guardian analysis pointed out that after Vance’s speech, European officials could no longer hide their differences with the Trump administration in the United States. They not only held different views on Russia, but also had gaps on deeper issues such as values ​​and democracy. Politico EU said that before this, top European officials may have been prepared to take cautious and diplomatic measures towards the United States, but now they "have decided to roll up their sleeves and fight back hard."