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While the Munich Security Conference revealed the deepening rift between the United States and the European Union, it also became a stage where Europe acknowledged its military dependence on Washington even as it searched for ways to resist it. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is seen with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. (Photo: X\/@SecRubio)<\/p>\n
Until Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Munich Security Conference was regarded as one of the world\u2019s most influential platforms for strategic dialogue \u2014 a political barometer for the year ahead. Not only Western countries, but also officials from China, Russia and Iran were invited. Discussions often proved more substantive than those held at UN General Assembly sessions. However, Germany\u2019s decision to stop inviting Russia after the Ukraine war \u2014 and later Iran \u2014 coupled with Donald Trump\u2019s return to power in the United States and his administration\u2019s increasingly confrontational posture toward Europe, especially the European Union, diminished Munich\u2019s inclusive glow.<\/p>\n
China was invited to the 62nd Munich Security Conference held on February 13\u201315, 2026, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a forceful speech, particularly on Taiwan and tensions with the United States in the Pacific. Yet just as the 2026 Davos meeting was overshadowed by discussions about Trump rather than economics, Munich was dominated less by cooperation than by the spirit of \u201cUnder Destruction\u201d \u2014 the conference\u2019s defining theme \u2014 and by Trump-era policies. The gathering demonstrated both the further deepening of U.S.\u2013EU contradictions and the EU\u2019s submission to American pressure despite its belated push for strategic autonomy.<\/p>\n
As the EU Remains Dependent on the U.S.<\/p>\n
The tensions were stark. U.S. Vice President JD Vance argued that Europe\u2019s greatest threat did not come from Russia or China but from within \u2014 accusing European governments of tolerating hostility toward Christianity and sliding into authoritarianism. German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius sharply rebuked him, calling the remarks \u201cunacceptable.\u201d Yet when Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed with a speech similarly accusing European leaderships of straying from Christian values and surrendering to migration \u2014 but added, in essence, \u201cWe were born from Europe; we belong to each other\u201d \u2014 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded with what amounted to a relieved endorsement: the reassurance that the United States was not abandoning Europe.<\/p>\n
The reason was clear. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte bluntly stated that if Europe wanted full defense autonomy from the United States, EU governments would have to allocate up to 10 percent of their national income to NATO\u2019s military spending.<\/p>\n
After Trump pressured European allies by threatening to leave them \u201calone with Russia\u201d unless they increased NATO contributions \u2014 pushing defense spending targets from 2 percent to 3.5 percent and eventually toward 5 percent \u2014 EU governments, already under pressure from the electoral rise of the far right, found themselves politically cornered. Rutte was simply reminding them of geopolitical realities.<\/p>\n
The Era of Power Politics<\/p>\n
The conference\u2019s somber tone was set at the outset by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Declaring that the international order based on law and rules no longer exists, Merz argued that the era of \u201cthe law of the strong\u201d has returned. Questioning America\u2019s leadership of the capitalist West, he warned that great-power politics exploits the dependency of others \u2014 a clear reference to Europe\u2019s current predicament.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Merz announced that Germany had initiated \u201cconfidential nuclear discussions\u201d with French President Emmanuel Macron. Given that France already possesses nuclear weapons technology, the remarks inevitably raised questions about whether Germany \u2014 historically a central actor in two world wars \u2014 might now be reconsidering its own nuclear posture. (Against this backdrop, EU capitals questioning T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s ties with nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia reflects another measure of double standards.)<\/p>\n
Can Strategic Autonomy Be Achieved Within the EU?<\/p>\n
The concept of \u201cstrategic autonomy\u201d \u2014 which T\u00fcrkiye has openly pursued since the July 15, 2016 coup attempt and for which it has often been criticized within NATO \u2014 is now being invoked by both Berlin and Paris. In his speech, Merz listed T\u00fcrkiye alongside Canada, Japan, India and Brazil as potential new cooperation partners in foreign policy and defense.<\/p>\n
The approach may be sound in theory. But can such a transformation be achieved under the EU\u2019s unanimity principle, which treats defense policy with the same procedural rigidity as fisheries regulations? Clearly not.<\/p>\n
For that reason, the \u201clargest six EU economies\u201d \u2014 Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands \u2014 are preparing to coordinate under the EU6 framework in security, foreign policy and competitiveness without requiring unanimous consent from all 27 member states.<\/p>\n
The European Union \u2014 arguably the most important peace and development project of the modern era \u2014 is taking steps to avoid losing its role as a political and military actor in the face of new threats from Russia and China, particularly without the protective umbrella of the United States.<\/p>\n
Yet the unanimity principle, long considered a prerequisite for European peace, has increasingly become the greatest obstacle to European security.<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Position<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s role in European defense is increasingly discussed from two contrasting angles.<\/p>\n
On one hand:<\/p>\n
Its battle-tested land forces securing the borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Its military-industrial capacity, which has expanded significantly over the past decade despite U.S. and EU sanctions;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Its deterrent presence in the Black Sea air and maritime domains, reinforced by drone shields and missile defense capabilities;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The capability it has added to NATO through the TB-3 drone, launched from the amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu in the Baltic Sea \u2014 thousands of kilometers north \u2014 striking its target and returning to the vessel;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Its effective intelligence apparatus and its de-confliction diplomacy demonstrated in the Russia\u2013Ukraine war.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
On the other hand, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s participation in the emerging European security architecture (SAFE) faces obstacles from Southern Cyprus and Greece.<\/p>\n
\u015eim\u015fek Did Not Speak: The SDG Discomfort<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye typically attends the Munich Conference at the level of foreign or defense minister. This time, the highest-ranking cabinet representative was Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek. Intelligence chief \u0130brahim Kal\u0131n, Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Advisor Akif \u00c7a\u011fatay K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7, and members of parliament were also present. The absence of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Ya\u015far G\u00fcler reflected Ankara\u2019s limited expectations from the conference.<\/p>\n
\u015eim\u015fek was scheduled to speak at a session on Syria\u2019s future \u2014 the only Turkish representative granted a speaking role. However, he withdrew. Deputy Foreign Minister Levent G\u00fcmr\u00fck\u00e7\u00fc was announced as his replacement but also pulled out at the last minute.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic sources suggested two possible reasons: first, that other speakers on Syria \u2014 where T\u00fcrkiye is a principal actor \u2014 were not of appropriate rank, aside from Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaybani; second, that conference organizers had invited SDG leaders Mazlum Abdi and Ilham Ahmed. The visible emphasis placed by U.S. and French leaderships on engaging the SDG was notable. When asked about the issue, NATO Secretary General Rutte responded tersely: \u201cI did not come here to discuss the Kurds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMade in Europe\u201d and Ankara\u2019s Calculations<\/p>\n
Another issue directly concerning T\u00fcrkiye is the \u201cMade in Europe\u201d and \u201cBuy European\u201d policy debate, which also caused divisions at the EU leaders\u2019 summit in Belgium one day before Munich.<\/p>\n
Some EU countries, led by France, appear inclined to adopt a protectionist turn reminiscent of Trump-era policies \u2014 particularly in public procurement \u2014 in hopes of countering Chinese competition. Such a shift would negatively affect T\u00fcrkiye, whose largest trading partner is the EU and which itself ranks as the EU\u2019s fifth-largest trade partner.<\/p>\n
The same Southern Cyprus\u2013Greece brake is also visible in the long-stalled modernization of the EU\u2013T\u00fcrkiye Customs Union \u2014 a move that would, in fact, strengthen Europe\u2019s own competitiveness.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, unanimity on protectionist measures has not yet been achieved. Meanwhile, steps by President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government toward EU alignment \u2014 including reforms to the Public Procurement Law, the Anti-Terror Law and the Penal Code, implementation of Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights rulings, and the release of political detainees \u2014 would deprive those seeking to exclude T\u00fcrkiye from Europe\u2019s evolving security, foreign policy and competitiveness framework of key leverage.<\/p>\n
The EU Summit and the Munich Conference demonstrate that as Europe searches for a new path, T\u00fcrkiye could close significant gaps with a handful of swift and credible steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Munich Security Conference revealed the deepening rift between the United States and the European Union, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,16760,14791,2821,38798,224703,224704],"class_list":["post-767081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-munich","tag-munich-security-conference","tag-nato","tag-safe","tag-sdg","tag-tb-3"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116077292728346613","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}