February 14, 2025
Will Iran bow to Donald Trump’s ‘maximum pressure?’
Experts told DW on the sidelines of this year’s Munich Security Conference that US President Donald Trump could combine military threats and economic sanctions to force Tehran to give up on its nuclear program.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qV0x
February 14, 2025
India ‘in favor of lasting peace’ in Ukraine without ‘blame game,’ BJP Foreign Affairs head Vijay Chauthaiwale tells DW
Vijay Chauthaiwale, head of India’s Foreign Affairs Department from the ruling BJP party, told DW’s Chief International Editor Richard Walker that India is “in favor of lasting peace” in Ukraine “without going into a blame game.”
Speaking about India-US relations, Chauthaiwale said they “have a tremendous potential to grow and develop in practically every sphere of world affairs” and India will take “appropriate decisions” on tariffs.
They may be allies, but there have been differences between the two nations, with US President Donald Trump this week describing Indian tariffs on US goods as “unfair.” Trump has vowed “reciprocal” tariffs in response.Â
“Two best friends don’t have to agree on every aspect,” Chauthaiwale said.
‘Europe is going through a transition’
On climate change, Chauthaiwale said India is “already ahead of its time in fulfilling its commitments” and climate protection will face “hurdles” now that the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Chauthaiwale said he did not agree with Trump’s comments that BRICS — the interstate association comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — “is dead.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4qUoz
February 14, 2025
Zelenskyy says he had a ‘good’ talk with Vance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday he had a “good conversation” with US Vice President JD Vance.
“Our first meeting, not last, I’m sure,” Zelenskyy said after the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
“We want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop,” Vance said during the talks with Zelenskyy. Â
Shortly before sitting down with Vance, Zelenskyy said he will only agree to meet in-person with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a common plan is negotiated with US President Donald Trump.
Earlier at the conference in southern Germany, Vance suggested Europe needed to focus on migration while claiming freedom of speech is “in retreat” across the continent, comments which were strongly rebuked by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
JD Vance’s speech felt like the United States was “trying to pick a fight” with Europe, “and we don’t want to a pick a fight with our friends,” Kallas said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qUl7
February 14, 2025
Germany’s Pistorius says JD Vance remarks ‘not acceptable’
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has heavily criticized JD Vance after the US vice president accused European governments of ignoring voter concerns on immigration and stamping down on free speech.
“Democracy was called into question by the US vice president for the whole of Europe earlier,” Pistorius said at the Munich Security Conference. “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 regions… that is not acceptable.”Â
Pistorius accused Vance of painting a distorted picture of democracy.
Pistorius: Vance speech ‘not acceptable’
With the German elections just over a week away, and the far-right AfD in second place in the polls, Pistorius poured scorn on the notion that free speech was being stymied.
Democracy means that “extremist parties such as the AfD can campaign quite normally, just like any other party.”
“However, democracy does not mean that the loud minority is automatically right and determines the truth,” Pistorius said.
Earlier, JD Vance said that free speech was “in retreat” in Europe while mass migration was a topic being underestimated by nations across the continent.
Germany’s migration debate: What the parties want
https://p.dw.com/p/4qUKU
February 14, 2025
Zelenskyy says open to seeing Putin after Trump plan is negotiated
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would only agree to see Russian President Vladimir Putin after a plan on Ukraine is negotiated with US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Zelenskyy said that he was open to negotiations but expected any potential peace talks with Russia to be extremely difficult.
The Ukrainian president described acknowledging the Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory as a “red line” that would never be recognized.
He believes that Trump is the key to ending the conflict in his country, telling reporters at the MSC that the US leader had given him his personal phone number during a call earlier this week.
“Yes, he gave me his telephone number,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Trump had told the Ukrainian leader: “You can call anytime.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4qUDM
February 14, 2025
Watch more MSC speeches here
DW will continue bringing you the latest key quotes from the event along with exclusive content, analysis and interviews.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qUDS
February 14, 2025
China’s Wang Yi asks US to work ‘together,’ but stresses preparedness to fight back
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi directly addressed his country’s shaky relationship with the US, which has become even more tense since President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month.
Addressing the Munich Security Conference in a conversation with the chair, Wang stressed that global challenges require the two countries to work together, adding that “we can’t have conflict between China and the US.”
The Chinese top diplomat described Beijing’s US policy as “consistent and stable,” but vowed to “resolutely respond to unilateral bullying practices.”
“If the US is bent on suppressing China, then we have no choice but to play along in the end,” Wang said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qU13
February 14, 2025
Mass migration is Europe’s ‘most urgent’ challenge, says Vance
US Vice President JD Vance has called on Europe to do more to curb illegal migration, calling it the continent’s “most urgent” challenge.
Vance was speaking at the Munich Security Conference, a day after an Afghan man was arrested in the southern German city over a car-ramming attack that injured 36 people.
“How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?” Vance said, adding that the European electorate did not vote to open the “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”
He also urged countries in Europe to take responsibility for their own defense so that Washington could focus on threats elsewhere.
“We think it’s an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger,” Vance said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qU1n
February 14, 2025
China’s Wang Yi urges respect for rule of law, avoiding ‘double standards’
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi stressed in his Munich Security Conference address the need to respect and uphold international rule of law and avoid “double standards.”
“Major countries must take the lead in honoring their words and upholding the rule of law,” Wang said, in what was seen as an indirect reference to the US and Europe.Â
He stressed that all countries’ “sovereignty and territorial integrity” should be supported, which he said also means support for “China’s complete reunification,” in a roundabout reference to Taiwan.
Beijing sees the self-ruled island as part of its own territory. In recent years, China has intensified efforts to diplomatically isolate Taipei by poaching its allies. It has also ramped up military pressure by conducting large-scale military exercises around the island.
The Chinese top diplomat on Friday also defended Beijing’s relationship with Moscow, which the West has criticized since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Wang argued that exchanges between the two countries are “normal.”
He also indirectly criticized tariffs imposed on China by both the US and the European Union, stressing that “protectionism offers no way out” and that “arbitrary tariffs produce no winners.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTwO
February 14, 2025
Vance says free speech ‘in retreat’ in Europe
US Vice President JD Vance has used his speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticize what he called the “retreat” of free speech across Europe.
“The threat that I worry most about, vis-a-vis Europe, is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said. “What I worry about is the threat from within: the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.”
“Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he added.
“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will defend your right to offer it in the public square — agree or disagree.”
‘Pretty massive intervention in European politics’
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTma
February 14, 2025
A failed Ukraine would ‘weaken the United States,’ says EU chief
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said forcing Ukraine into a bad deal to bring the war with Russia to an end would harm US interests.
“A failed Ukraine would weaken Europe, but it would also weaken the United States,” von der Leyen said.
She made the comments at the Munich Security Conference, which is being overshadowed by uncertainty about US policy on Ukraine. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump surprised many in Europe when he held a phone call with his Russian counterpart about ending the conflict without first consulting European leaders or Ukraine.
Von der Leyen urged Trump to work together for a “just peace.”
She also said the European Union needed to drastically increase its defense spending and suggested relaxing the bloc’s strict debt rules as one way to make such a surge possible.
“This will allow member states to substantially increase their defense expenditure,” the EU chief said.
EU members are obliged to keep their deficit below 3% and their debt ratio below 60% of GDP.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTw3
February 14, 2025
Germany’s Baerbock rejects JD Vance reported comments on AfD
Rana Taha | Wesley Dockery
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized comments reportedly made by US Vice President JD Vance regarding the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party.
Vance, who is in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC), reportedly urged German established parties to cooperate with the AfD.
“The only person who decides the German parliamentary election, as in any democracy, is and will be the German voters,” Baerbock said from the MSC on Friday.
“Fortunately, we live in a democracy,” the German top diplomat added. “This cannot be emphasized often enough these days, when we are seeing people around the world giving their lives to be able to vote freely.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Vance said he intended to tell European leaders attending the MSC they must embrace the rise of anti-establishment politics and that he would urge German politicians to work with all parties including the anti-immigration AfD.
At a press conference on Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said outsiders should not be “meddling in the internal affairs of a friendly country” and that they “may not have a full overview of the political debate” in Germany.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service (BfV) is monitoring the AfD party as a suspected right-wing extremist group, while several state-level party organizations have already classified it as such.Â
The far-right party is currently second in most national polls at roughly 20% support, ahead of the February 23 elections.
Earlier in January, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) controversially secured a majority for an anti-immigration motion with the support of AfD votes.
The move was seen as breaking a conventional “firewall” in German politics whereby traditional, democratic parties refuse to cooperate with the extreme right.Â
It has since seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in protests in various cities.
Germany: Far-right decides vote on anti-migration proposal
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTmZ
February 14, 2025
Trump team ignoring ‘established rules,’ says German president
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the Donald Trump administration “has no regard for established rules,” and that Europe will have to”accept it” and “deal with it.”
“It is clear that the new American administration holds a world view that is very different from our own,” he told the Munich Security Conference. “But I’m convinced that it is not in the interest of the international community for this world view to become the dominant paradigm.”
“The absence of rules must not become the guiding principle of a new world order,” he added to applause from participants.Â
The German head of state also voiced concerns about what he described as the “historically unprecedented concentration of technological, financial and political power” in Washington.
“I’m being frank … as a democrat it causes me great concern to see how a small elite group of business people has both the means and the power to rewrite a significant part of the liberal democracy playbook,” he said.
“And I’m even more concerned when some of these business people openly express their contempt for our democratic institutions and norms.”
“Democracy is not a business model,” he added. “Democracy is not a playpen for disruption.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTbZ
February 14, 2025
NATO 2% target ‘belongs to another era’: Steinmeier
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has told participants at the Munich Security Conference that Germany had “got the message” about the importance of boosting military spending.
“Expenditure on security must continue to rise. Our armed forces must become stronger — not to wage war, but to prevent war,” he said.
He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago was a watershed moment and that the NATO of today was facing different threats to the ones that existed when the alliance was founded over 70 years ago.
“The 2% target which we formally agreed belongs to another era,” Steinmeier said. “We must ask ourselves what we owe NATO today, so that in another 70 years it will still be able to defend freedom and security.”
He also acknowledged the need to balance “burden-sharing between Europe and the US,” adding that Germany would “do its part.”
His comments came after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called on European countries to significantly boost their defense spending and take more responsibility for the continent’s security.
“This discussion is not just about increasing European troop levels, but also about reducing the American troop presence in Europe,” he said, stressing that it was not in European or US interests to weaken NATO.
He also warned that withdrawing support for Kyiv in the war against Russia would not only come at a cost to Europe and Ukraine, but also to the US.
“How this war concludes will have a lasting impact on our security order and also on the influence of both Europe and the United States in the world,” he said. “In every scenario, support for Ukraine must continue.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTNh
February 14, 2025
NATO head Rutte: Europe needs Ukraine plan
NATOSecretary General Mark Rutte said that European countries should come up with plans for Ukraine if they want to have a say in a peace deal for the country.
“I really believe that what my European friends need to do is to come up with concrete plans,” he said ahead of the Munich Security Conference, where US Vice President JD Vance is expected to present President Donald Trump‘s plans of achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Vance’s speech is expected at 14:30 CET.
https://p.dw.com/p/4qTCB