‘Woke Europe not facing civilisational erasure,’ says EU’s Kallas after Rubio’s Munich speech – Europe live | European Union
“Contrary to what some say, collapsing Europe is not facing the extinction of civilization,” says the EU’s Kallas
of the EU Kallas currently speaking on the main stage.
In his first response to Rubio’s speech yesterday, he says, somewhat sarcastically, that “degenerate Europe is not facing the extinction of civilization, as some say” and, pointing to Canada, says many countries still “want to join our club” — not just Europeans.
He says Russia continues to pose a significant challenge.
Pointing out that attempts to sabotage or undermine EU countries continue, he says, “This starts in Ukraine, but we know that Russia’s end game is not Donbas.”
It continues like this:
“But let’s be open-minded about Russia: Russia is not a superpower. After more than a decade of conflict, including 4 years of full-scale war in Ukraine. Russia hasn’t progressed much beyond the 2014 line, but what’s the cost? 1.2 million missing.
Today, Russia was corrupted, its economy disintegrated. Europe is cut off from energy markets and its own citizens are fleeing.
“In fact, the biggest threat Russia currently presents is that it gains more at the negotiating table than it does on the battlefield.”
important events
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Latvia’s president says the EU is ‘not ready’ to offer Ukraine a date to join the bloc at this stage
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NATO deputy secretary general: “We need to produce more everywhere”
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French minister says increasing defense spending to buy from abroad ‘makes no sense’
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French Haddad says don’t get hung up on some words of endearment from the USA, focus on ourselves
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We don’t agree on all issues, but we can work from there, EU’s Kallas said after Rubio’s speech
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Morning opening: What do we make of all this?
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“Contrary to what some say, collapsing Europe is not facing the extinction of civilization,” says the EU’s Kallas
Yakup Krupa
in Munich
We can say that we are quickly approaching the end of the conference, as we lost two of the four panelists as they had to run to get home.
But don’t worry: Your blogger’s plane won’t leave until late in the evening, so I’ll bring you all the important lines here.
Latvia The Rinkevičs It is also asked whether the elections to be held in Hungary will be able to remove the obstacle in front of Ukraine. Viktor Orban The person who continues to strongly oppose Kiev’s EU membership could be removed from power after 16 years.
He says:
“I would like to warn that both the Olympic Games and the elections can sometimes produce very unexpected results. Let’s not jump ahead of the curve. Let’s not get to something that only the voters in each of our countries can decide. …
So let’s wait until things happen and see how it goes.”
He says there will be elections in the same way. France And Poland Next year this situation may change the dynamics in the other direction.
Latvia’s president says the EU is ‘not ready’ to offer Ukraine a date to join the bloc at this stage
president of latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs He offers his views on Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy He is pushing for a specific date for his country’s accession to the European Union as part of any future peace deal.
“We understand that we need Ukraine in the European Union,” he says, but he is also talking to other EU leaders “I feel that at this stage, as we speak here today in Munich in February, there is no preparation on this issue.” [agree on] a date.”
He said the bloc “wants to see Ukraine” [join] “As soon as possible,” but it also needs to address two other issues as part of that process.
Rinkēvičs thinks the EU “should look at the Western Balkans” because it “has too much credibility in the region” for not furthering EU accession prospects.
“We were promising many things in return for reform, such as changing the name of North Macedonia. [them the] “I have been a member for a very long time.”
And he adds that the EU cannot forget Moldova.
“Yes, it’s a small country, but if Ukraine gets in, we can’t leave Moldova out of it, so it’s not just about Ukraine anymore,” he says, adding that this will require a “very serious discussion” about how to manage the process.
“Whether you like it or not,” he says Ukraine’s EU membership is “very much tied to the peace agreement,” but he is not optimistic about Russia actually getting involved in the process, so it can be agreed upon.
“If Russia doesn’t act, then we can’t make a deal,” he says.
NATO deputy secretary general: “We need to produce more everywhere”
NATO deputy secretary general Radmila Sekerinska He understands Haddad’s point.
He said that at the last NATO summit in The Hague, an agreement was reached not only on increasing defense spending, but also on increasing its own production.
He says:
“This will now be repeated in Ankara: We must produce more, we must produce more everywhere.
We need more European production, we need more production on the US side.
If you look at the numbers and especially If you look at the numbers on key capabilities that are urgent in Ukraine, such as air defense, you will see that we do not have enough.”
He adds:
“Unfortunately, most of our stock is not up to the task. We went to industrial… and the only place these capabilities were available was in US stocks.
I was in Norway recently, I visited a company that exports all of its products to the USA, then the USA has additional production and many European countries also buy it.
These are connections developed by defense companies. “If we try to dismantle them, we will be weaker, not stronger, so the call at the Ankara summit is that we need to produce more, and for that we need better regulations, we need faster processes, and NATO is exactly focusing on how to create interoperability standards at this point.”
French minister says increasing defense spending to buy from abroad ‘makes no sense’
France’s Haddad also pushes for “Europe’s choice” in defense purchases, arguing that this is just “common sense”.
He says that when you increase defense budgets (mostly by reducing other spending) you can’t spend it abroad to “support a factory in Kentucky” in the US.
“This doesn’t make any sense” he says.
He says it’s also about controlling use, exports and the technological knowledge that comes with it.
“We know that when you buy a gun from another region, it comes with certain conditions. Comes with [some] Detailed article showing how and when you can use it. So all of these are absolutely critical.”
French Haddad says don’t get hung up on some words of endearment from the USA, focus on ourselves
France’s European minister Benjamin Haddad But he has a slightly different take on the speech, lamenting that the four Europeans on the panel were expected to respond to Rubio’s speech a day later.
“We should neither be relieved nor shocked by this or that conversation. “I think the worst lesson we can take from this weekend is that I might hold on to some of the love quotes I heard in one part of his speech and hit the snooze button,” he says.
He says the EU should instead “focus on ourselves”, including rearmament and increasing competitiveness.
“This too The best long-term way to reshape and perhaps save the transatlantic relationship: To become more balanced, more mature, with two equal pillars, rather than looking for love or thinking about how Americans will talk about us.
We don’t agree on all issues, but we can work from there, EU’s Kallas said after Rubio’s speech
KallasThe former Estonian prime minister explains a little more about Rubio’s speech, saying: “There were messages for us, and they were messages for the people in America.”
“For me, every time I hear this critique of Europe – it’s so trendy at the moment – I think about what the alternative is, and I actually mean all the best and good things that we get from Europe and all the good things that Europe actually represents.”
But he says he took some reassurance from Rubio’s comments:
“The message we heard there is that America and Europe are intertwined, have been in the past and will be in the future. I think that’s important. It’s also clear that we don’t agree on everything and that will continue to be the case, but I think we can work from there.”
“Contrary to what some say, collapsing Europe is not facing the extinction of civilization,” says the EU’s Kallas
of the EU Kallas currently speaking on the main stage.
In his first response to Rubio’s speech yesterday, he says, somewhat sarcastically, that “contrary to what some say, collapsing Europe is not facing the extinction of civilization” and points to Canada, saying many countries still “want to join our club” — not just Europeans.
He says Russia continues to pose a significant challenge.
Pointing out that attempts to sabotage or undermine EU countries continue, he says, “This starts in Ukraine, but we know that Russia’s end game is not Donbas.”
It continues like this:
“But let’s be open-minded about Russia: Russia is not a superpower. After more than a decade of conflict, including 4 years of full-scale war in Ukraine. Russia hasn’t progressed much beyond the 2014 line, but what’s the cost? 1.2 million missing.
Today, Russia was corrupted, its economy disintegrated. Europe is cut off from energy markets and its own citizens are fleeing.
“In fact, the biggest threat Russia currently presents is that it gains more at the negotiating table than it does on the battlefield.”
Morning opening: What do we make of all this?
Yakup Krupa
in Munich
Guten TagAs we open the third and last day of the fair Munich Security Conference.
Today we have a very short program where Europeans react to the US secretary of state Marco Rubio In my speech yesterday, I am considering further reforms to the EU’s economy and competitiveness.
Can you imagine a better Sunday morning?
We will hear from the EU foreign policy chief: Kaja Kallas, ECB president Christine Lagarde, and former NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenbergamong others.
His Sunday, February 15, 2026, his Yakup Krupa here and this Europe Live.
Good morning.
