Some Europeans welcome Rubio’s warm words, others remain cautious

Many European policymakers appear to still be smarting from U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s tough words about the region at last year’s Munich Security Conference.

So, it’s perhaps not too surprising that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on Saturday at this year’s event underscoring the U.S. and Europe’s common heritage, goals and challenges have come as something of a relief in European capitals.

“[Rubio] delivered a speech which still assured us that we stand together in this partnership between Europe and the United States,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. “Of course, there are some questions which we will have to discuss, but in the end of the day, his message was clear that we were so successful in the past, and we should do the job once again with new threats, with new tests in the 21st century.”

On Saturday, Rubio said the U.S. has no intention of abandoning its deep alliance with Europe and wants the region to succeed.

“We want Europe to be strong,” he told the gathering of defense and security officials in the German city. “We believe that Europe must survive, because the two great wars of the last century serve, for us, as history’s great reminder, that ultimately, our destiny is, and will always be, intertwined with yours.”

Contrast that to Vance’s message to the same crowd last year, when he spoke of the “retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.” He lambasted his audience about the health of their democracies, their migration policies and freedom of speech.

While Rubio’s tone might have been more conciliatory than Vance’s, the underlying issues remained the same, as some conference attendees acknowledged.

“Of course, there were some issues he raised. We would answer differently when it comes to the migration problem, when it comes, of course, to question how we organize our legal framework here in Europe with regard to the digital services. And of course, also with the question of freedom of speech and so,” Wadephul said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently criticized Europe for its open migration policies, for being too reliant on the U.S. for its security and has pushed NATO allies to boost defense spending. His pursuit of ownership of Greenland, a Danish territory, has also rattled European leaders in recent months.

“The message we heard (from Rubio) is that America and Europe are intertwined, they have been in the past and will be in the future,” the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said at a panel discussion on Sunday. “I think this is important. It is also clear that we don’t see eye-to-eye in all the issues and that this will…