Five takeaways from the Munich Security Conference

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Five takeaways from the Munich Security Conference

Frank Gardner

Security Correspondent, BBC News

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich – but will not play a part in next week’s talks with Russia

A series of US declarations rocked last week’s Munich Security Conference and caused discord among the European politicians in attendance.

Now US and Russian officials are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia next week to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.

However, Ukraine and European politicians have not been invited to attend, despite insisting they must be involved for any ceasefire to be credible.

Instead, they will meet in Paris on Monday for an emergency summit to discuss the conflict and the continent’s security.

Here are five takeaways from Munich.

1. End of an era

Nato, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was formed in 1949 with the primary aim of blocking expansion in Europe by the former Soviet Union.

Now numbering 32 members, including several Eastern European countries, members agree that if one of them is attacked, the others should help defend it.

But after this week the post-World War Two security architecture for Europe is no more.

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but Europe can no longer automatically rely on the US to come to its aid.

In Brussels,

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saying they would have to provide the “overwhelming” share of military funding for Ukraine.

2. Ukraine policy upended

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3. Spend more now

Europe, everyone agrees, needs to rapidly raise its defence spending if it has any hope of deterring a newly emboldened Russia.

The current Nato-mandated minimum of 2% of GDP is likely to rise to 3%. Russia currently spends more than twice that on defence in percentage terms.

In January, Trump urged Nato’s European members to spend 5% of their national income on defence. Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte has also urged member states to boost their defence spending.

But Europe as a whole has already overtaken the US in terms of aid to Ukraine. In total, it has allocated €70bn ($73bn; £58bn) in financial and humanitarian aid as well as €62bn in military aid. This compares to €64bn in military aid from the US as well as €50bn in financial and humanitarian allocations.

4. That JD Vance speech

Watch key moments from Vance’s speech in Munich

US Vice President

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was called “ill-judged” and “insulting” by many of the delegates at the Munich Security Conference.

They had hoped he would reassure them the US was not abandoning Ukraine.

Instead, he spent the majority accusing European governments – including the ***’s – of retreating from their values, and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech.

The address was met by silence in the hall, and later denounced by several politicians at the conference.

But the speech appealed to others on both sides of the Atlantic and Donald Trump called it “brilliant”.

5. Disunity and discord

While the Munich conference was occupied by the geopolitical,

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on all steel and aluminium imports from March.

It was evidence there are now very obvious rifts between Washington’s positions and Europe’s on several issues, from trade to dealing with Russia.

It is a divide that the *** is struggling to bridge, with Prime Minister

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and Britain was “not choosing between the US and the EU”.

But the Trump team’s own messaging is sometimes contradictory, rowing back on grand pronouncements the day after they have been made.

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#takeaways #Munich #Security #Conference

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