Munich Security Conference Wraps With EU Pledging New Security Strategy as Trans-Atlantic Rift Persists

The 2026 Munich Security Conference concluded Sunday with European leaders projecting a united front on defense autonomy, even as fundamental disagreements with Washington over trade, Greenland, and the future of NATO remained unresolved .

The conference's defining moment came when EU High Representative Kaja Kallas announced she is developing a "new European security strategy" alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The strategy will address "all dimensions of European security" in response to what Kallas described as Russia's escalating hybrid warfare and sabotage of critical European infrastructure .

"Russia's maximalist demands cannot be met with a minimalist response," Kallas said, warning that Moscow's ambitions extend well beyond the Donbas . She urged EU member states to "think more European, not national" on defense, arguing that the threat is continental in scope and requires a continental answer .

Kallas also pushed back forcefully against recent American characterizations of European decline. "Contrary to what some people say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure," she said — a direct response to rhetoric from Trump administration officials who have questioned Europe's cultural resilience .

Rubio's 'Poisoned Love Letter'

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio led Washington's delegation this year, striking a markedly gentler tone than Vice President JD Vance's combative 2025 address. Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg — now Norway's finance minister and expected to chair next year's MSC — called the atmosphere "calmer" than last year .

But several European officials warned the softer tone was deceptive. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Security and Defense, dismissed Rubio's speech as "a poisoned love letter to Europe" .

"He was nice, but the message was the same. No talk of Article 5, democracy, shared values, or Ukraine — just 'you do your thing, we do ours,'" Strack-Zimmermann said . She pointed to Rubio's post-conference visits to Hungary and Slovakia — countries led by Viktor Orban and Robert Fico, both of whom have expressed sympathies with Russia — as a troubling signal .

Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis offered a more clinical assessment. He credited Rubio with skillfully "playing into people's emotions" by referencing the Beatles, German beer, and Michelangelo, but noted the secretary of state conspicuously avoided discussing shared values .

"Nothing like that has been mentioned," Landsbergis said. "Interests have replaced values. So for Europe, it's either you accept those interests and they become yours, or you don't" .

The Defense Spending Consensus

One area of genuine agreement was defense spending. US Democratic Senator Chris Coons said Washington "deeply appreciates" increased European investment, singling out Germany for "really stepping up" . Stoltenberg called American pressure on spending a "valid point" and said Europeans "are delivering" .

But sharp disagreements emerged over how that money should be spent. French Minister Delegate for Europe Benjamin Haddad insisted that increasing defense spending only to buy American weapons "makes no sense," calling for a "European preference" in arms procurement .

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics pushed for a "military Schengen" — a framework to eliminate bureaucratic hurdles that currently prevent EU member states' armed forces from crossing internal borders efficiently . NATO Deputy Secretary-General Radmila Sekerinska agreed that allies on both sides of the Atlantic "need to produce more" weapons and equipment .

The Greenland Question

President Trump's push to acquire Greenland from Denmark cast a long shadow over the proceedings. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski acknowledged the rhetoric "has not helped" trans-Atlantic ties but framed the issue through an Arctic security lens .

"There's been some tension — and that is probably putting it mildly. But we must not lose sight of the true threat from Russia," Murkowski said, expressing confidence the Greenland rhetoric would be "dialed down" .

Stoltenberg struck an optimistic note, pointing to the framework deal reached at Davos in January as evidence that "compared to where we were some weeks ago, we are in a much better place because now at least there is a process" between Washington, Copenhagen, and Nuuk .

Democratic Senator Coons was more direct, acknowledging that tariffs and the Greenland threat had hurt trust and pledging to demonstrate that America remains "the reliable partner you've come to count on for decades" .

Clinton's Broadside, Ukraine's Honor

The conference's most explosive rhetoric came from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who accused President Trump of "betraying the West" during a Saturday night panel .

"He has betrayed the West, he's betrayed human values. He's betrayed the NATO charter, the Atlantic charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Clinton said . She also defended the Democratic record on deportations, claiming more people were deported under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama than in either Trump term.

The comments drew sharp reactions and underscored the deeply partisan nature of American engagement at the conference, where Republican and Democratic delegations offered starkly different visions of the trans-Atlantic relationship.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the Ewald von Kleist Award — the first time the prize has been given to an entire nation — for the Ukrainian people's "courage and resilience." Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered the laudatory speech, inverting the gratitude narrative: "Some say that Ukraine should be grateful for everything. But it's the exact opposite — the rest of us should be grateful to Ukraine" .

China's Quiet Diplomacy

While Europe and America dominated headlines, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi conducted a parallel diplomatic track at the MSC. He met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, proposing to elevate the China-Germany partnership, and with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand, praising Ottawa's strategic engagement with Beijing .

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung fired back at Wang's MSC speech, accusing China of "military provocations" and exposing "a hegemonic mindset that does not match its words with its actions" .

Looking Ahead

The 2026 MSC exposed a European continent caught between two imperatives: maintaining a partnership with an increasingly transactional Washington and building the autonomous defense capabilities to survive without one.

Kallas' new security strategy will be the first concrete test of whether the rhetorical unity on display in Munich translates into policy. ECB President Christine Lagarde captured the prevailing European optimism — or perhaps wishful thinking — when she said that "in times of crisis, Europe gets stronger, gets better together" .

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said he believes Europe will emerge "much stronger," while Germany's digital transformation minister Karsten Wildberger called for dramatic deregulation: "We have overdone it with regulation, we need to really cut down and give the creative forces in our countries much more space" .

Whether Europe's leaders can move from Munich speeches to meaningful integration of defense, procurement, and foreign policy before the next crisis arrives remains the open question. Stoltenberg, expected to chair MSC 2027, will inherit a conference that has become less a forum for trans-Atlantic consensus and more a stage for managing its fractures.