After the highly anticipated speech by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) expressed a sense of overall relief. Speaking to German TV station ntv, he said that Rubio had made it clear that the United States is deeply interested in Europe’s continued healthy development and the solid cohesion between America and Europe. Dobrindt noted that the U.S. deliberately adopted a different tone this year than in the previous conference. He also pointed out that the partnership with the United States is still in a demanding phase and the way it evolves remains an ongoing challenge.
Dobrindt further said he heard “tones of criticism” in Rubio’s remarks, indicating dissatisfaction with past cooperation. He recalled that Rubio warned, “If it doesn’t go that way, we can do it ourselves” a point he said must not be overlooked even amid the cheer over the cordial tone between the U.S. and Europe.
In contrast, Marie‑Agnes Strack‑Zimmermann, chair of the European Parliament’s Defence Committee (FDP), warned against interpreting Rubio’s remarks as a sign of thawing trans‑Atlantic relations. Speaking to Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, she described the speech as a “poisoned love letter” and said that nothing in it was reassuring.
Strack‑Zimmermann added that although Rubio’s tone differed from Vice‑President J.D. Vance’s address a year ago, he still called for a world that is not “ours”. She argued that the MAGA movement led by former President Donald Trump does not merely seek to reshape American policy, but aims for a world devoid of value‑based rules-evoking the interwar 1920s‑30s era when borders could be displaced and one country could overtake another. The collective relief felt in the enthusiastic applause, she warned, is a delusion.