00:00The German defense minister Boris Pistorius held a speech at the Munich
00:04Security Conference in which he fiercely criticized the statements made by the
00:08vice president of the United States, JD Vance, and he's now joining us here in
00:14Munich. Boris Pistorius, thank you very much. You held a completely different
00:18speech than the one that you'd intended to hold. You wrote it... At least the first
00:24part. So you criticized JD Vance essentially saying that he was painting
00:31a distorted picture of democracy and you called it unacceptable. Aren't you worried
00:36that you're making life more difficult for Europe which will now have to talk
00:41to the Trump administration including JD Vance? I mean Vice President Vance
00:47emphasized the relevance of democracy and the freedom of opinion and I reacted
00:53to his opinion with my opinion especially because I'm convinced, deeply
00:57convinced, as a Democrat in Germany and Europe that our democracies are even
01:02more stable and good as ever before. Everybody in Germany and in Europe is
01:09able and is allowed to say his opinion wherever and whenever he wants but it's
01:14about his opinion about democracies and I said no this is not acceptable to
01:20accuse us for not being real Democrats and I had to make that clear as a
01:25representative of a German government here in Munich. And are we seeing the
01:30true Zeitgeist Inventor here at this Munich Security Conference? We've got the
01:34US and the Europeans fighting on the open stage so isn't this the seismic
01:40shift? I think we should calm and cool a little bit down. I mean there was a
01:45controversy on the open stage which I didn't start and I answered in a polite
01:51way I think but clear and this is what our friends in the United States of
01:56America understand pretty well and this is a proof and the best symbol for
02:01democracy all over the world that we can say it as each other our opinion and I
02:06don't I'm not afraid that the relationship between the US and Europe
02:11and Germany will take any damage out of that because it is too strong for that.
02:16And also lots of speakers have said that there are things where the US and Europe
02:21don't differ that much so that there are points that people could sit down and
02:26talk about together and but is something going to come out of Munich isn't this
02:31the opportunity that you would need to seize to not just describe the problem
02:36but actually act? Well we are on the same on the same page to be frank I
02:42always admitted during my being in office in January 23 that Europe and
02:47Germany that we have to do that we have to do more that we have to contribute
02:50more for our own security especially with regard to the shift of focus of the
02:56United States which is to be expected and announced now to the Indo-Pacific so
03:01that's quite clear that we have to do more there's no discussion about that
03:05what I suggested yesterday in Brussels is to work together on a joint road map
03:10to make it possible to orchestrate that burden shifting for the years to come by
03:16avoiding at the same time critical capability capability gaps in meanwhile
03:22because this is a challenge we have to face it's quite clear the US will do
03:27less in the years to come and we have to do more. This roadmap why didn't the
03:32Americans propose it if they say that they are going to do less surely they
03:36have to inform their allies just what they're going to do less when by? We are
03:41all professionals and we met yesterday the day before yesterday the first time
03:46in Brussels we made acquaintance of each other Pete Hexet and me and others and of
03:50course we had the first first place to to discuss the main issues and then we
03:55came to that point and then I made that proposal it could have come from Pete
03:59Hexet too it doesn't matter. And the Europeans are very clear that they do
04:03want to sit at that negotiating table what can Germany bring to that table?
04:10It is not about what can we bring to the table as Germany it's about the role of
04:15Europeans in those negotiations I think one thing should be quite clear
04:21if we have a peace in Ukraine it has to be guaranteed it has to be
04:28security guaranteed sorry and somebody has to achieve them to to guarantee
04:36those guarantees and the US expect us to do that at least in a central role fine
04:43so far but to do that we have to we need to be involved in the negotiations about
04:49to peace we are expected to ensure afterwards so that is quite clear
04:54therefore we have to talk with the Americans and with others in which kind
04:59in which structure we can take part it doesn't mean 27 member states it's a
05:03it's a negotiating table this is unrealistic but any other way can be
05:07imaginable too. Is NATO membership off the table for you for Ukraine?
05:12Well as I already said earlier I consider it as a mistake to take it off
05:19the table before starting the negotiations as well as the issue of
05:23territory questions but anyway Donald Trump decided to take it off the table
05:28and now we have to see how the negotiations when they finally will
05:31start if they didn't start yet will go with in with regard to that topic or not
05:36and in the meantime you're continuing supporting Ukraine in its attempts to
05:42defend itself against Russian aggression parts of the German government promised
05:46Ukraine another three billion euros in aid including yourself when is Ukraine
05:51going to get that money? Well nobody promised anything we planned a three
05:56three billion package with which didn't get which didn't which for which we
06:01didn't find a proper financing way because we couldn't couldn't find a
06:07conclusion between the parties I think after the election 23rd of February we
06:12will find a solution for the one way to solve it on for the other. Yeah that's
06:18true you you always said you were hopeful that Ukraine would get that
06:22money but of course we're also facing elections here in Germany are you going
06:26to stay on as a defense minister? This decision will up will be up to the
06:32voters on Sunday next week and afterwards we talk about coalition's
06:37content of the coalition and personnel. Would you like to? Everybody knows that I
06:43love my job but still it's up to the voters. Boris Pistorius thank you very much
Comments