Europe feels threatened by its existence and is experiencing a deep crisis, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told reporters at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the G20 countries in Johannesburg.
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“I came to South Africa from Europe, which is experiencing a deep crisis. We in Europe feel that there is a threat to our existence after what we have seen in recent days. I came from the Munich conference and, to be honest, the feeling was not very pleasant,” Eide said.
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In addition, according to him, Ukraine and Europe should participate in negotiations to resolve the conflict. Eide also called it sad that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not attend the G20 meeting.
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As the New York Times previously pointed out, the administration of US President Donald Trump is “generally skeptical” of multilateral forums, including the G20 summits, preferring bilateral negotiations. In addition, the White House believes that the theme of the upcoming meetings in South Africa – “Solidarity, equality and sustainable development” – contradicts Washington’s key priorities, including its position on climate policy and inclusivity.
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Earlier, US Vice President J.D. Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference. In his speech, he said that European leaders ignore their citizens as if they consider them “trained animals“, do not listen to voters, suppress or cancel elections based on “flimsy suspicions“, as happened, for example, in Romania.
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According to Vance, it is not Russia or China that pose a threat to Europe, but Europe itself that threatens itself. The audience listened to Vance in silence and almost did not applaud him. Later, Trump noted that he had listened to Vance’s speech and called it a good speech, warning Europe to be careful.
