The German Defense Minister hit back today at criticism from US Vice President J.D. Vance about the state of democracy in Europe, saying it was "unacceptable" to draw a parallel between Europe and authoritarian governments.
Vance lectured European governments on free speech in a speech at the Munich Security Conference today and said he feared free speech was "in retreat" across the European continent.
"It increasingly seems to many of us on the other side of the Atlantic that old entrenched interests are hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, and they simply don't like the idea that someone with a different point of view could express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote differently or, worse, win an election," Vance said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, speaking a few hours later, said he could not let Vance's speech pass without comment.
"If I understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe to those in authoritarian regimes. That is unacceptable and that is not Europe and that is not the democracy in which I live and in which I am currently campaigning," Pistorius said.
Vance also told European leaders that if they run away in fear of their own voters, America can do nothing for them, and that no democracy can survive by telling millions of voters that their concerns are "invalid or not even worth considering."
"Democracy is based on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There is no place for 'cordon sanitaires,'" Vance said.
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He did not elaborate further, but mainstream parties in Germany say they will not work with the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), a stance often referred to as the "Santiar cordon."
According to polls, the AfD is in second place ahead of the parliamentary elections in Germany on February 23, with around 20 percent support.
Pistorius countered that every opinion has a voice in his country's democracy.
"This allows partially extremist parties like the AfD to campaign completely normally like any other party," he said.
He pointed out that AfD candidate for chancellor of the country, Alice Weidel, participated on German prime-time television on Thursday evening along with other candidates.
But he added that "democracy does not mean that a vocal minority is automatically right. Democracy must be able to defend itself against extremists who want to destroy it," Pistorius added.
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