MUNICH — U.S. Vice President JD Vance launched a blistering attack on European governments on Friday, chastising them for ignoring the will of their people, who he insisted were being censored and repressed from expressing their populist views and practicing their faiths.
The remarks were a surprising departure from the normal defense-related speeches at the annual Munich Security Conference.
Vance’s comments brought the event to a standstill.
Rather than talk about defense budgets and Russia, Vance instead said he was witnessing “the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.”
The speech focused largely on culture war issues and populism, with Vance accusing European governments and the European Union of being “commissars” more interested in stifling free speech than in providing security for their citizens.
He also attacked high levels of migration, touching on the same themes that animated Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States. He said he was praying for the victims of Thursday’s attack in Munich, when a migrant drove a car into a crowd, injuring 15.
“How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our civilization in a different direction?” Vance said.
Taking an absolutist view of free speech, he continued: “I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people.”
This article is being updated.
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