JD Vance’s Munich speech echoes what Azerbaijan has long been saying US vice president’s criticism of the EU

Vice President of the United States JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference has become one of the most discussed topics in global media. To put it mildly, he essentially accused the European Union of departing from traditional democratic principles! "The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America," Vance stated.

He backed up his accusations with several specific facts. "A former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don’t go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too. Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears," the U.S. Vice President emphasized.

Here, it is worth reminding what Vance meant.

In November last year, during Romania’s presidential elections, Călin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round. His victory provoked discontent from the EU—discontent that took the form of an ultimatum to the official authorities in Bucharest. As a result, some time later, Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the presidential elections. This is precisely what the U.S. Vice President was referring to.

He threw a massive stone into Ursula von der Leyen’s garden—whose tendency towards hypocrisy is well known in Azerbaijan. We remember that she didn’t find time to attend COP29, where, dare I say, the fate of all humanity was being decided. Although preliminary approval for her visit to Baku had been secured and she was even scheduled to speak at the conference, Frau von der Leyen chose instead to support those who were struggling to stage a so-called "boycott" of COP29. They failed, of course, but it’s just like the old joke—"the spoons were found, but the bad taste remains." After all, we also remember how, when the EU was in dire need of Azerbaijani natural gas, she rushed to Baku and signed a gas agreement with Azerbaijan.

So, we can only agree with JD Vance’s words. To which we should add yet another example of the staggering moral bankruptcy of so-called "democratic Europe"—the EU’s stance on the presidential elections in neighbouring Georgia. Let me remind you that the EU preemptively cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections even before they had begun. Meanwhile, the infamously biased European Parliament went so far as to demand that the Georgian authorities "ensure a peaceful transfer of power." Essentially, this was blackmail—an outright attempt to interfere in the affairs of a sovereign state. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is no better, following the same playbook.

How can we not also recall the deceitful and utterly immoral report by the joint OSCE and OSCE/ODIHR observation mission on the recent presidential elections in Azerbaijan? There was a blatant attempt to cast doubt on the predictable and obvious choice of the citizens in favour of a statesman of global stature—President Ilham Aliyev. It was his strategy that led Azerbaijan to the full restoration of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is absolutely clear that in any country in the world, a leader with such achievements before his people would secure a landslide victory. Yet once again, we witnessed attempts to pressure the official Baku.

I would also like to remind that in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev emphasised that relations with the United States were very successful under President Trump, in contrast to the past four years, during which U.S.-Azerbaijan ties deteriorated due to the Biden administration’s “unfair and dishonest approach.” Our head of state expressed optimism, believing that future relations with the U.S. could return to a more productive state: “We expect that these four years, which we consider lost years in U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship, will already be history, and we will restart.”

These are well-founded expectations—not least because both Baku and Washington stand to benefit from pragmatic, businesslike, and mutually beneficial relations, free from the very “double standards” that Vance essentially accused many leading European nations of applying.