“We may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square,” said Vance. “Agree or disagree.”
Vance slammed EU “commissars” for stifling free expression and charged that “across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat”.
‘Change course’
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had earlier made clear that what had been Berlin’s most important diplomatic relationship had sharply deteriorated since Trump returned to the White House.
“The new American administration has a very different world view to ours,” Steinmeier said. “One that has no regard for established rules, partnership and established trust.”
The German head of state urged European leaders to keep calm in the face of a blizzard of disruptive policy announcements from Washington.
“We must not freeze in fear, or as the English saying goes: Let’s not be a deer caught in the headlights.”
Vance, undeterred, in his later speech urged European countries, including conference host Germany, which faces elections on February 23, to “change course” on immigration.
His speech came a day after a 24-year-old Afghan man was arrested in Munich over a car-ramming attack that wounded 36 people.
“How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilisation in a new direction?” he said.
“Why did this happen in the first place? It’s a terrible story but it’s one we’ve heard way too many times in Europe and unfortunately too many times in the United States as well.
“An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community.”
Defending political parties that oppose immigration and their supporters, Vance added: “No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”
‘Meddling’
Germany previously warned against foreign “meddling” in its politics after Vance called for a bigger role for Europe’s anti-immigration parties, nine days before the German general election.
Vance told the Wall Street Journal: “Unfortunately, the will of voters has been ignored by a lot of our European friends” on the issue and urged governments not to exclude anti-immigration parties.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) looks set for its best-ever result of around 20% in the election and has received enthusiastic backing from tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk.
Vance said Germany should get used to the Tesla and SpaceX boss weighing in, just as the US tolerated criticism by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
“If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk,” he said.
“But what German democracy, what no democracy – American, German or European – will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy.”
Vance also touched on a heated German pre-election debate around the need for mainstream political parties to maintain a so-called “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD.
“Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters,” he said. “There’s no room for firewalls.”
Pistorius blasted Vance, saying “democracy was called into question by the US Vice-President for the whole of Europe”.
“He speaks of the annihilation of democracy. And if I have understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes ... that is not acceptable.”
- Agence France-Presse
