Morning opening: What will the US say?

Jakub Krupa

in Munich

Guten Tag!

US secretary of state Marco Rubio will open the second day of the Munich Security Conference this morning, presenting the US response to Friday’s speeches by Germany’s Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron on the tricky state of the transatlantic relations.

The question on everyone’s minds is whether he will choose to deliver a confrontational speech resembling that by the US vice-president JE Vance last year or will he seek to smoothen the already rocky relationship using some of his diplomatic charm.

The obvious paradox at the heart of his speech is that while Rubio will be speaking to (mostly) Europeans, he will be listened to also back in the US, including by his president, Donald Trump, who wants to see his agenda expressed in clear, even crude, terms. Quite a tightrope to walk for Rubio.

What will it mean in practice? We will know soon.

For what it’s worth, Rubio said before leaving for Munich that while Europeans want and admire honesty, they will also like what he has to say. He is understood to have repeated that declaration to some of the European delegations he met in Munich yesterday. Let see what it means in practice.

But he is not the only big name we are going to hear from the main stage, as he will be followed by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen and Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer is expected to tell the conference that Europe is “a sleeping giant” and must rely less on the United States for its defence.

“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well,” he will say, according to his office.

We will bring you all the lines from all the key speeches at the MSC, some colour from behind the scenes, and first analysis to what we hear from global leaders here.

It’s Saturday, 14 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.