US Vice President JD VANCE met with a right -wing German leader during a visit to Munich on Friday, nine days before the German elections and after a lecture of European leaders on the state of democracy. He said there is no place for “protection walls”.
His office said that Mr. Vance met with Alice Wadel, the co -leader and candidate for the right -wing and anti -immigrant alternative advisor to the Germans.
The main German parties say they will not work with the party, and the situation is often referred to as “the wall of protection”. Opinion polls put an alternative to Germany, or AFD, in second place in the elections on February 23 with approximately 20 % support.
The meeting of the meeting came after the senior German officials were severely exposed against the complaints of Mr. Vans about the state of democracy in Europe, as the defense minister described it as “unacceptable” to extract parallel with authoritarian governments. Ho and Chancellor Olaf Schools defended the main protection wall of German parties.
On Friday at the Munich Security Conference, Mr. Vans at the Munich Security Conference said that he is afraid that freedom of expression “in retreating” will be across the continent.
“For many of us on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, it seems similar to the established old interests that hide behind words in the ugly Soviet era such as wrong and misleading information, who does not like the idea that someone has an alternative view that might express an alternative point of view he said Mr. Vans:
German Defense Secretary Boris Pistorius, who was speaking after two hours, said he could not leave the speech and does not exceed the comment.
“If I understand it properly, it compares the circumstances in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes,” said Mr. Pezorius. “This is unacceptable, not Europe, not the democracy in which I live and I am currently campaigning.”
Mr. Vans told European leaders that “if you are afraid of voters, there is nothing that America can do for you.” He said that no democracy can escape millions of voters that their concerns are “not valid or not even deserved to be considered.”
He said: “Democracy depends on the sacred principle that matters to the voice of people.” “There is no room for protection walls.”
Mr. Pisorius replied that “every opinion has a voice in this democracy. It makes it possible for partially extremist parties like AFD the campaign completely naturally, just like each other party.”
He pointed out that Weidel was on German television at the time of Thursday night with the other competitors.
But he added that “democracy does not mean that the loud minority is automatically right” and that “democracy must be able to defend itself against extremists who want to destroy it.”
Mr. Scholz posted on the social network X to reject the comments of Mr. Vans.
He wrote: “From the experiences of Nazism, the democratic parties in Germany enjoy a common consensus-the wall of protection against the right-wing extremist parties.”
“We take every opinion seriously, but we decide ourselves with those who form an alliance,” said Bavarian ruler Marcus Soder-a prominent figure in the right opposition bloc in Germany, which leads opinion polls before the elections-reporters. .
In a post at X earlier on Friday, Mrs. Weidel wrote, “An excellent speech!” There is no room for protection walls! “
The meeting of Mr. Vans with Mrs. Widel came after her reception on Wednesday by the right -wing Prime Minister in Hungary Victor Urban. The Vice President’s office said that Mr. Vance also met on Friday with German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and opposition leader Friedrich Mirz, while Mr. Schouls met earlier this week when they were both in Paris at a summit on artificial intelligence
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Junior Stepler took over the case of how Mr. Vans urged European officials to irregular excavation in a speech on Friday. Mr. Fans said that European voters did not vote to open “flood gates for millions of unrestricted immigrants.”
“He speaks as if we are not focusing on immigration in Europe,” said Mr. Jahr Storer. “I mean, this is the big topic in every country, where we want to control our borders.”
He said that the Ukrainian refugees have been a significant increase in immigrants who are not registered in recent years – and they were accepted “because there is a continuous bloody war, which I did not mention, which I think does not address reality.”
“I do not agree with him that what is happening in Ukraine, and what is happening in Russia, is what is happening in China is less important than the loss of freedom of expression in Europe.”
This story was reported by Associated Press. Mr. Molson told Berlin.