Reuters, Munich :
One month into the unusual presidency of Donald Trump, his most senior cabinet members were deployed to Brussels, Bonn and Munich this week to reassure nervous Europeans that everything would be okay.
The Europeans heard from Defense Secretary James Mattis that the NATO military alliance was not “obsolete” after all, despite Trump’s repeated suggestions to the contrary.
And they were told by Vice President Mike Pence that Russia would be “held accountable” for its actions in Ukraine, despite Trump’s friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But if the aim of the visits was to reassure Europe that the pillars of U.S. foreign policy are fully intact, they fell short of the mark, European diplomats, politicians and analysts gathered in Munich said. “What we heard here is not reassuring,” Ruprecht Polenz, former head of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament, told Reuters after Pence’s speech to the Munich Security Conference.
“There is absolutely no vision for how we are going to work together, going forward.” Pence was the highest-ranking member of the Trump team to travel to Europe and his address was eagerly awaited. Eight years ago in the same hall, his predecessor Joe Biden made headlines with a promise to “reset” relations with Russia. But unlike Biden, Pence came to Munich with a fatal handicap: the perception, fueled by the circumstances surrounding the recent resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, that he is not part of Trump’s inner circle.
“His mission was always going to be hard, but it was made even more so by the questions about his lack of influence inside the White House,” said Derek Chollet, a top defense policy adviser to former president Barack Obama who is now with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The vice president tried to tackle these doubts head-on by making clear at the start of his speech that he was speaking for Trump.
One month into the unusual presidency of Donald Trump, his most senior cabinet members were deployed to Brussels, Bonn and Munich this week to reassure nervous Europeans that everything would be okay.
The Europeans heard from Defense Secretary James Mattis that the NATO military alliance was not “obsolete” after all, despite Trump’s repeated suggestions to the contrary.
And they were told by Vice President Mike Pence that Russia would be “held accountable” for its actions in Ukraine, despite Trump’s friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But if the aim of the visits was to reassure Europe that the pillars of U.S. foreign policy are fully intact, they fell short of the mark, European diplomats, politicians and analysts gathered in Munich said. “What we heard here is not reassuring,” Ruprecht Polenz, former head of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament, told Reuters after Pence’s speech to the Munich Security Conference.
“There is absolutely no vision for how we are going to work together, going forward.” Pence was the highest-ranking member of the Trump team to travel to Europe and his address was eagerly awaited. Eight years ago in the same hall, his predecessor Joe Biden made headlines with a promise to “reset” relations with Russia. But unlike Biden, Pence came to Munich with a fatal handicap: the perception, fueled by the circumstances surrounding the recent resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, that he is not part of Trump’s inner circle.
“His mission was always going to be hard, but it was made even more so by the questions about his lack of influence inside the White House,” said Derek Chollet, a top defense policy adviser to former president Barack Obama who is now with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The vice president tried to tackle these doubts head-on by making clear at the start of his speech that he was speaking for Trump.
