US Vice President JD Vance faces flak for launching verbal attack on European democracy

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance used the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to launch a scathing attack on the state of European democracy. His comments on European capitals "retreating from their values," sidelining voter concerns over migration, as well as "free speech" lacked empirical evidence and angered many European leaders, reports CGTN.

His comments, however, had nothing to do with European democracy. They were about promoting white supremacy, nativism, racism and far-right bigotry in Europe. They also constituted brazen interference in Europe to prevent sovereign governments from adopting pragmatic foreign policies and working towards a multilateral world order.

All European Union (EU) member states are sovereign countries who have adopted policies consistent with domestic and international realities. These are democracies resisting American pressure and far-right proclivities. Also, Vance's remarks belie the Trump administration's so called non-interference mantra, which has historically characterized Donald Trump's foreign policy.

Vance's remarks have nothing to do with the state of democracy in Europe and everything to do with preventing European governments from adopting shrewd, apolitical and visionary policies. It is hence, unsurprising that they were rejected by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who expressed dismay over his push to have European governments accommodate the views of far-right parties.

In truth, the United States has no business dictating terms and conditions to the democratic dispensations in Europe. The freedom of speech argument by Vance also rings hollow given that unlike the United States, Europe has only controlled the voices that threaten domestic stability and disseminate disinformation, fallacies and factually incorrect statements. Such far-right voices, promoted by Vance, are detrimental to public well-being, multilateralism and integration.

This clearly suggests that this is not about freedom of speech as Vance suggested but a concerted push by Washington D.C. to influence European policy making. The Trump administration is working on an agenda to ensure that major European countries witness dynamics similar to that which unfolded in Washington D.C. such as Trump signing executive orders allowing conspiracy theories to penetrate into public discourse and the dissemination of disinformation.

For the Trump administration, Europe's adoption of such sovereign domestic and international policies is a threat to the more assertive and unilateral approach the United States has adopted that harms global trade, integration and amicable ties between countries.