Pence embraces NATO but stays silent on EU

MUNICH — Invoking the name of President Donald Trump but not his rhetoric, Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday sought to reassure Europeans of Washington’s robust commitment to transatlantic defense, even as Europe searched for clarity in the contradictory statements coming from the new U.S. administration.

Pence told a skeptical audience at the Munich Security Conference that Europeans should rest assured that Washington’s fundamental foreign policy direction was not changing. In a speech that touched on military sacrifice, God and an unwavering faith in the power of shared values, Pence offered the fullest outline from the Trump administration on international policy since the beginning of the turbulent term nearly a month ago.

“Today, tomorrow and every day hence, be confident that the United States is now and will always be your greatest ally,” Pence said in his red-blooded speech, which was met with only a smattering of applause. “Be assured: President Trump and the American people are fully devoted to our transatlantic union.”

But allies were left trying to resolve Pence’s rhetoric with that of his boss, who routinely upends the statements of subordinates and has equated Russia’s human rights record with that of the United States, declared NATO obsolete and ferociously torn into judges, reporters and others who have crossed him.

The lack of mention of the European Union, whose unraveling Trump has praised, also unsettled European leaders. Pence travels to Brussels on Sunday for meetings with senior EU officials.

U.S. officials in Europe this week, including Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, focused on an issue that has been a bipartisan concern in Washington, that of Europe’s lackluster defense spending, rather than Trump’s desire for a new relationship with the Kremlin, a major fear in Europe.

The mixed messages reassured some allies and unsettled others. Some leaders proposed that Europe respond by embracing their own strength and turning away from the United States to stand alone in the world - what one diplomat semi-seriously called an effort to “Make Europe Great Again.”

But the EU is riven by internal conflicts of its own, and officials said a true European declaration of independence is most likely a non-starter. Instead, there was acknowledgment from German Chancellor Angela Merkel on down that Europe is reliant on the United States to fight international terrorism and will never be able to go it alone.

“The challenges of this world today cannot be mastered by one state alone. It needs a cooperative effort. We need to forge ahead with multilateral structures. We have to strengthen them,” Merkel said in a speech that she delivered immediately before Pence’s. “Let me address this very openly. The Europeans alone cannot cope with fighting international Islamist terrorism. We also need the support of the United States.”