Vance eviscerates 'Soviet'-style European censorship in address to Munich Security Conference
The vice president called out the organizers of Munich conference who 'banned' both far-right and far-left parties
By Morgan Phillips Fox News
Published February 14, 2025 11:19am EST
In a speech to European leaders, Vice President JD Vance said the continent's recent censorship activities were a bigger threat to its existence than Russia.
"The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China. It's not any other external actor," he said in an address at the Munich Security Conference.
"What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America."
Vance called out former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who said in January that if the right wing German AfD party were to win elections in Germany, the results could go the way of Romania.
"These cavalier statements are shocking to American ears," said Vance.
"For years we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. 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."
Romania annulled the results of its December presidential election, because President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence reports alleging a Russian influence campaign on social media to the benefit of Calin Georgescu, the dark horse candidate who won the most votes.
"You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage, even. But 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."
The vice president even called out the organizers of the Munich conference, who he said had "banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations."
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vance-eviscerates-soviet-style-european-censorship-address-munich-security-conference
