Swiss president reacts to US vice president’s speech in Munich

Karin Keller-Sutter not surprised by Vance's speech in Munich Keystone-SDA

For Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, the Munich Security Conference was marked by uncertainty over the course of US foreign policy. It became clear that the US Vice President intends to leave the Ukrainian issue to US President Trump.

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The atmosphere at the Munich conference was similar to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Keller-Sutter told Keystone ATS on Friday. There, too, no one on the European side had access to US foreign policy decision-making processes. The 2025 edition of the WEF took place just after Trump took office on January 20.

US Vice President JD Vance gave a speech on Friday at the security conference. However, he hardly spoke on foreign and security policy issues, but attacked internal decisions by European countries, particularly Germany.

In his view, freedom of expression is too restricted. In his view, “firewalls” such as those erected against the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party are unjustified.

Meeting with Costa and Rutte

Before his speech, rumors were circulating that Vance might announce a withdrawal of American troops from Europe.

Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, was not surprised by the emphasis placed by the American vice president in his speech: “I was prepared for it. It was clear from the start that he wouldn’t want to talk about Ukraine.”

On the sidelines of the Munich conference, the Swiss president held talks with EU Foreign Affairs Representative Antonio Costa, his German counterpart Jörg Kukies, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu. According to Keller-Sutter, the subject of the meeting was Switzerland’s chairmanship of the OSCE in 2026.

Defense Minister Viola Amherd was also in Munich on Friday, where among other things she met the European Commissioner for Defense Policy Andrius Kubilius, she reported on Platform X.

Amherd also commented on Trump’s plans to negotiate directly with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Ukraine must not be ignored, she told SRF radio. “In peace negotiations, all parties – both Russia and Ukraine – must be represented so that we can move forward.”

Adapted from French by DeepL/jdp

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