The head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, affirmed this Sunday that the United States does not ask Europe to be a “vassal”, during a tour of Slovakia and Hungary, two countries allied to Donald Trump.
In Munich, during a speech to the Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Rubio urged Europeans to align with the US president’s vision of world order, while advocating for revitalizing relations with a “strong” Europe.
Rubio wanted to reassure his allies and this Sunday stated: “We are not asking Europe to be a vassal of the United States.”
«We want to be your partner. We want to work with Europe. “We want to work with our allies,” he assured.
Given the tension generated by his statements, Rubio already declared on Saturday that the United States wants a “revitalized alliance” with Europe.
This Sunday, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, rejected US statements that denigrate the bloc, and welcomed Rubio’s change of tone in Munich, before the closing of the Security Conference.
“Every time I hear the region being denigrated, something that is very fashionable at the moment, I think about everything that Europe has given us,” he said.
“Contrary to what some would say, Europe is not decadent or ‘woke’, nor is its civilization threatened,” said Kallas, alluding to criticism from President Trump, who considers that the region is under threat, like the United States, due to mass immigration.
Rubio made a quick visit of a few hours to Slovakia to meet with Prime Minister Robert Fico, who shares the same sovereigntist and nationalist ideology as the American president.
During a recent visit to Florida, Fico would have expressed concern about the mental state of the American president, according to the Politico media, which cites anonymous European diplomats.
However, Washington and Bratislava have categorically denied this.
After that meeting in Florida, the Slovak leader declared that he had held “extremely important” exchanges with Trump on nuclear energy.
An important topic on the agenda was Ukraine, since Slovakia borders the country at war. Prime Minister Fico praised Trump’s “approach” to the conflict, but said he does not believe it will be resolved in the “near future.”
Rubio said he appreciates these statements and stressed that “the role of the United States is to try to facilitate the end of a very deadly, very bloody, extremely costly war that involves horrible suffering.”
Meeting with Orbán
The US Secretary of State will then travel to Budapest where he plans to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday.
Trump does not hide his support for the Hungarian nationalist leader, whom he describes as a “strong and powerful man”, with a view to the legislative elections scheduled for April 12.
Orbán faces his biggest challenge since returning to power in 2010, with his party, Fidesz, trailing the opposition TISZA party in pre-election polls.
The Hungarian Prime Minister also expressed his intention to travel to Washington next week to attend the inaugural meeting of the so-called “Peace Board” promoted by Trump.
Orbán is very close to the Trump administration over its immigration policy since the Syrian refugee crisis ten years ago.
Energy diplomacy
During a visit by Orbán to the White House last year, Hungary also obtained an exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports.
Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, had much more tense relations with Orbán, whom he accused of “tending towards dictatorship”, especially for silencing independent media and campaigning against LGBT+ rights.
Both Slovakia and Hungary are landlocked Central European countries with close ties to Russia and remain dependent on Russian fossil fuels despite sanctions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The two European countries are in a fight with the European Union over its policy of progressively eliminating imports of Russian gas, an opportunity that the United States wants to take advantage of to strengthen ties.
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