BBC: Rubio speech signals US-Europe relations

World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, have been gathering in Munich for Europe's biggest security and defence conference.

The burning question on everyone's minds: is the US still an ally of Europe? The keynote speech that everyone was waiting for was from Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state.

Would he repeat the attacks made on Europe last year by the US Vice-President JD Vance? Or would he be conciliatory?
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A stray line in Mr Vance’s castigation has caused particular angst in Brussels. By wryly referring to “EU commissars”, Vance rekindled a concern that the MAGA crowd has a deep loathing for the union at Europe’s heart. 
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The hall was packed to the rafters. Generals and admirals, bemedalled in their uniforms, prime ministers and presidents, diplomats, ambassadors, US Congressmen and women, European politicians and their Spads - all waiting nervously to hear what President Donald Trump's top diplomat had to say.

BBC 14 February 2026

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk80vgrj2eo


“We want Europe to prosper because we’re interconnected in so many different ways, and because our alliance is so critical,”  “But it has to be an alliance of allies that are capable and willing to fight for who they are and what’s important.”

“What is it that binds us together? Ultimately, it’s the fact that we are both heirs to the same civilization, and it’s a great civilization,” he said. “It’s one we should be proud of.”

In the interview, Rubio said he was not turning away from Vance’s message, which warned European nations of dangers from their own policies.  He criticized “an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies.”

Wolfgang Ischinger, the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, called Rubio’s speech “a message of reassurance of partnership.” “Mr. Secretary, I’m not sure you heard the sigh of relief through this hall” from the speech, he said.

Bloomberg 14 February 2026

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-14/rubio-reassures-europe-even-as-he-warns-of-dangerous-delusion


Marco Rubio, Trump, Neoconservatives and The Bay of Pigs

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2026/02/marco-rubio-trump-neoconservatives-and.html


There is no light at the end of Cuba’s tunnel. 
https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2026/02/oil-revivaland-democracyin-venezuela.html






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