Estonian ex-president: US sees conflict of attitudes between old Europe, ex-Eastern bloc

TALLINN – Former Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who participated in the Munich Security Conference last week, believes that the new US administration has come to understand the differing attitudes toward defense spending between old Europe and the former Eastern bloc.

She also noted that Estonia's record-level spending on defense has been noticed on the other side of the Atlantic.

"Our message to our European allies must be this: if you want to scorn the Americans because they are so untraditional, weird, and dangerous, then make sure that you -- we -- have this capability. The capability and the means. And if the US sees that Europe means business, then the attitude will change. But just talking -- sorry, you really won't get a seat at the table. Conclusions must be drawn, and action must be taken. Freeriding doesn't just happen at the expense of the US, but also at the expense of Poland, the Baltics, and the Nordics," Kaljulaid wrote on social media.

Kaljulaid said Estonians may have a different view from Germans on how successfully the goals of Munich were achieved during the 50 years it took Estonia to free itself from occupation, and whether there was any real concern in Munich about what lies east of the borders of Germany.

According to Kaljulaid, the speech by US Vice President J.D. Vance clearly violated the local political etiquette, as the Germans themselves did not want to talk about the elections in Munich, but were not spared from it.

"Philosophically, one can argue that if we have common democratic values, including freedom of speech, then how do we still somewhat differently define what is appropriate or not in real life. In practice, it is simply not very nice when, instead of TikTok, through which the Romanian elections were interfered with, it is now done from the podium in Munich through the mouth of the US vice president. Or at the same time on X by Elon Musk," the ex-president said. 

"But the main question of Munich -- how to keep the Russians out -- was not addressed in this speech. No doubt many would like to argue with J.D. Vance about the substance of his speech, but what was shocking was that the core issue was not addressed," she said.

According to Kaljulaid, the same cannot be said about all the other Republicans who attended. For example, forward-looking solutions were presented by Senator Lindsey Graham and Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy on Ukraine. However, it was clearly reminded that Europeans are not capable of taking on the role of a grown-up person in these solutions because they simply do not have the strength for it.

"The real bad thing is not that Americans are talking to Europeans about their inability, but that we probably also do not believe it ourselves that European allies will actually step up. They have promised this every year; the worse the situation, the louder the promises. Some actions are taken, but the clearer it is explained that it is too little and too late, the better for us," she said.

"Because: did we hear the French or the Germans in Munich making concrete promises -- with numbers and deadlines -- to do something like what was done during the COVID era? The French claim to have contributed five billion to helping Ukraine over three years, but the check they wrote during the COVID crisis was... around 100 billion," Kaljulaid recalled, adding that this is simply the reality of Europe.

"Speaking about this directly is unpopular, but it's not really shocking either. It wasn't particularly wise to, in the biggest speech, give this opportunity to those who like to be shocked by words rather than by facts. Of course, it's terrible to see how the relationship between the Americans and Ukrainians seems to be one that cannot be considered trusting. There was a bit of bridge-burning in Zelenskyy's speech."

However, Kaljulaid stressed that there is no need for panic on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The US has already taken note of the ranking where Poland and Estonia surpass the US in terms of defense spending, and Defense Secretary Hegseth pointed this out in Warsaw.