Munich Security conference live: Starmer to convene with world leaders as Rubio warns Europe of ‘new era’

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent, in Munich

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to travel to Bavaria is one of the signs of the significance of this year’s Munich Security Conference.

The summit is taking place at a time of deep anxiety among many leaders here, worried that the United States is pulling away from Europe.

The pressure is on for them to tackle the twin challenges of boosting Europe’s own security and ending the war in Ukraine.

Those challenges were laid out by French President Emmanuel Macron in his address on Friday.

Even if a deal were reached on Ukraine, he warned, Europe would still be dealing with “an aggressive Russia with a defensive industry on a sugar high and a bloated arm”.

Despite all the talk of solidarity and support for Ukraine, the undercurrent here is the fear of an erratic and unpredictable Donald Trump.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will be speaking this morning and is meeting Volodymyr Zelensky later today, is expected to repeat the administration’s demands that Europe spends more within Nato.

Nato’s European members have already pledged to increase their military commitment in the High North, particularly after Trump said he wanted to take over Greenland.

Yet when I spoke to Defence Secretary John Healey yesterday, he insisted the UK’s ties with Washington remain as strong as ever, pointing to Britain’s leadership role in the Coalition of the Willing on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Munich, the Middle East is never far away.

Large numbers of Iranians are expected to rally this afternoon in support of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Their message will not go unnoticed by leaders attending this conference.