In February, Europe's political and foreign policy elite heard directly from Senator JD Vance about his opposition to military aid to Ukraine and his blunt warnings that Europe will need to rely less on the United States to defend the continent.
If those comments at the annual Security Conference in Munich were the first wake-up call, now alarm bells have sounded across the continent after Donald Trump chose Vance as his vice-presidential candidate in the November elections, Reuters points out.
"His choice as a vice-presidential candidate is worrying for Europe," said Rikarda Lang, one of the leaders of the German Green Party.
The election has sparked fears that if Trump returns to the White House, he will suspend or reduce US support for Kiev and push Ukraine into peace talks to end the war that will give Moscow a significant chunk of Ukrainian territory and encourage Vladimir Putin to launch new military campaigns. . Langova announced on the X network that Vance clearly stated in Munich how soon he and Trump would "hand over Ukraine to Putin".
At the conference in Munich, Vance said that Putin does not represent an existential threat to Europe and that the Americans and Europeans cannot provide enough ammunition to defeat Russia in Ukraine. He suggested that the US's strategic priorities lie more in Asia and the Middle East.
“There are a lot of bad characters around the world. At the moment, I am more interested in some of the problems in East Asia than in those in Europe," he said at the conference. Speaking in 2022 on a podcast with Trump ally Steve Bannon in 2022, Vance said, "I really don't care at all what's going on in Ukraine."
Vance also voted against the Ukraine funding bill that eventually passed in April. In an author's article for the "New York Times", justifying his vote, he claimed that Kiev and Washington must abandon Ukraine's goal of restoring its 1991 borders with Russia.
Although Vance has come out strongly on Ukraine, he has not been in a leadership position until now, and as vice president I expect his views to evolve.
Nils Schmidt, from the German Social Democrats, said that he observed Vance in Munich and concluded that the senator sees himself as Trump's mouthpiece. "He has an even more radical attitude towards Ukraine than Trump and wants to end military support. In terms of foreign policy, he is a bigger isolationist than Trump," Schmidt told Reuters.
However, some caution against jumping to conclusions about Vance, who was born into a poor family in Ohio.
"JD Vance is a dedicated Christian and the circumstances of his childhood give me hope that he, like the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, will come to the conclusion that American support for Ukraine is the only option," said Melinda Harog, advisor for Ukraine at the humanitarian organization Razom. "Although Vance has made a strong statement regarding Ukraine, he has not been in a leading position until now, and as vice president I expect his views to evolve," she said.
Some diplomats also warn that the American elections are not over yet. "We need to stop prejudging. Trump did not win and Biden did not lose," a French diplomat told Reuters.
Ukrainian politicians are wary of openly criticizing Vance. Oleksiy Honchareno, a deputy from the opposition Solidarity party, said that he met Vance at a conference in Munich and that he thinks he is a "very intelligent and reasonable man." "Are there any concerns about Vance's statements? Of course. The USA is the biggest and most important ally," he told Reuters. "We must remain allies and show the US that Ukraine not only needs help, but that it can help itself."
Orban: Trump has detailed plans to achieve peace in Ukraine
Donald Trump is ready to "immediately" act as a peace mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine if he is elected in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a letter addressed to EU leaders.
The letter, addressed to European Council President Charles Michel and shared with all EU leaders, was drafted after Orban spoke with Trump, as well as the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and China.
"I can say with certainty that immediately after the election victory, he will not wait until the inauguration but will immediately be ready to act as a peace mediator. He has detailed and well-substantiated plans for this," Orban wrote.
EU leaders rejected Orbán's actions, stressing that he has no mandate to speak on behalf of the 27-member EU and that all views are his own.
In response to Orban's letter, Michel stated yesterday that "there are no talks about peace in Ukraine without Ukraine" and that the most direct path to peace is the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
To underscore displeasure with Hungary's rogue diplomacy over the war in Ukraine, which is undermining EU positions, the European Commission took the unprecedented step on Monday of banning EU commissioners from meetings in Hungary, which holds the EU presidency.
In the letter, Orban stated that US President Joe Biden is "making great efforts" to stay in the election race, and suggested that he is "not capable of changing the current pro-war policy of the US. Until now, we have not had a sovereign and independent European strategy or political action plan. I propose a discussion on whether the continuation of that policy is rational in the future".
Orban suggested "reopening direct lines of diplomatic communication with Russia", while also maintaining high-level contacts with Kiev, as well as talks with China about "the modalities of the next peace conference".
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