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Strategic Europe

Voices From the Munich Security Conference

Diplomats, professors, and parliamentarians at the Munich Security Conference weigh in on a very troubled transatlantic relationship.

by Judy Dempsey
Published on February 18, 2017

Carnegie Europe was on the ground at the 2017 Munich Security Conference, offering readers exclusive access to the debates as they unfolded and providing insights on today’s most urgent international issues. Check out our live coverage here.

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Maneuvering my way through the throng of participants at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of leaders, diplomats, and defense and security experts, I popped this question: What does U.S. President Donald Trump mean for Europe? Respondents were asked to sum up their thoughts in about 20 words.

Michel BarnierEuropean Commission chief negotiator with the UK and special adviser on security policy to the president of the European Commission

For the last sixty years, every American president has supported European unity because it was also in the interests of the United States.

Franziska BrantnerMember the German Bundestag

We have to go back to the fundamentals that we stand for.

Elmar BrokMember of the European Parliament

A united Europe also strengthens the United States. And the United States has always safeguarded our democracy and the rule of law.

Nicholas BurnsGoodman Family professor of the practice of diplomacy and international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School

For the first time since Trump, we don’t know if the American president supports the EU project or NATO.

Oleksandr ChalyiFormer first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine

Europe will be more independent and responsible for European security and Europe’s future.

Charles GrantDirector of the Centre for European Reform

Trump means that Europe has to take responsibility for the rules-based, liberal global order.

Nathalie JareskoChair of the board of trustees at the Aspen Institute Kyiv and former minister of finance of Ukraine

Uncertainty. Unpredictability.

Kersti KaljulaidPresident of Estonia

He is the president of the United States. We have just been speaking with U.S. Vice President [Mike] Pence along with the other Baltic states.

Roula KhalafDeputy editor of the Financial Times

Trump is going to discover very soon that Europe is his most reliable and stable ally.

Charles KupchanProfessor of international affairs at Georgetown University

Trouble. I’m hopeful that he will gravitate to more conventional positions on European security and the importance of NATO. But I worry that he will remain indifferent if not hostile toward the project of European integration.

Michael SchaeferChairman of the board of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Trump is a wake-up call for Europe to grow up.

Javier SolanaFormer secretary general of NATO and former EU high representative for common foreign and security policy

He is the first president of the United States who defends the opposite of those who represent multilateralism.

Photo by Munich Security Conference / Mueller

Foreign PolicySecurityEUEuropeNorth AmericaUnited StatesWestern Europe
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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