MUNICH -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC), saying the world is at a “defining moment.”
“The world is changing very fast right in front of us. The old world is gone – frankly, the world that I grew up in – and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of reexamine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Rubio said in comments before departure at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Rubio said he would likely meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 14, when Zelenskyy arrives here, although he was not “100 percent” certain the meeting would happen.
Asked about ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which have plunged hundreds of thousands into cold and darkness in winter, Rubio said this was why Washington was continuing its peace efforts.
“People are suffering. It’s the coldest time of year. It’s unimaginable suffering,” he added.
MSC organizers said this year’s event is the largest ever, with more than 1,000 delegates including some 50 heads of government and leading diplomats. It comes at a time of global turmoil, with the possibility of US airstrikes on Iran, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching its fourth anniversary, and tensions over the future of the NATO transatlantic alliance.
These latter concerns were in evidence at a small side event on the eve of the conference, where former EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: “we should…remain Atlantic but Europeanize NATO.”
Barroso called for greater European defense independence amid fears Washington was disengaging, adding that enlargement of the European Union to include Ukraine would also strengthen its security.
“Let's be honest, they will not be members of NATO,” Barroso told RFE/RL. “But members of the European Union -- I think they can be. So, let's find a way.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will formally open the conference shortly after lunch, setting the tone for subsequent discussions.
In recent speeches, he has doubled-down on the message that Europe needs to strengthen its military power in the face of Russian aggression and uncertainty over Washington’s commitment to NATO.
Europe would only be heard “when we learn the language of power politics, when we become ourselves a European power,” he said in January.
The prevailing mood here is also characterized by the titles of various planned discussions. The day begins with a prayer breakfast titled Building Bridges in a Tense World, followed by a panel discussion called Rules without Power? Developing Europe’s Geostrategic Capacity.
The discussion on the main stage in the afternoon is called Breaking Point: The International Order Between Reform and Destruction.
En route to Munich, Rubio voiced confidence that his message to angsty Europeans would be “well received.” He is accompanied by a large bipartisan group of US Senators who have announced meetings with Zelenskyy, NATO chief Mark Rutte, and others.
In a statement, ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations committee Jean Shaheen said she would use the trip to “strengthen support for Ukraine and urge her Congressional colleagues to pass bipartisan sanctions legislation to hold Russia and its enablers accountable.”