Chancellor Scholz slams US vice president for German election interference

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday strongly criticized US Vice President JD Vance for speaking in support of the far-right AfD party and accusing European governments of anti-democratic practices.

“We will not accept outsiders interfering in our democracy, our elections, and democratic opinion formation process in favor of this party, especially not friends and allies,” Scholz said. “We firmly reject this. We will determine our democracy's future ourselves.”

Scholz delivered the remarks at the weekend Munich Security Conference, one day after US Vice President JD Vance’s controversial speech, which drew widespread condemnation.

Vance's criticism of European governments' stance against far-right parties stunned many attendees on Friday, as he claimed Europe was abandoning “shared democratic values.”

He asserted that Europe's greatest threat came not from Russia or China but from within – pointing to what he termed “the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.” Vance also accused the European Union Commission of restricting social media freedoms and condemned European courts for what he claimed was the unfair nullification of election results.

Following his speech, Vance met with AfD (Alternative for Germany) Co-Chair Alice Weidel in Munich, indicating support just a week before Germany's parliamentary elections on Feb. 23, in a breach of diplomatic norms.

During his contentious conference speech, Vance criticized the German government and mainstream parties for their “firewall” approach toward the AfD, their refusal to cooperate with the right-wing extremist party.

Conference organizers did not invite Weidel due to her party's anti-democratic positions.