Rubio Warns Europe Faces ‘inflection Point’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Europe to “wake up from its long slumber” in an address in Athens on Wednesday, leaning hard into the combative stance that President Donald Trump has taken with the continent.

Speaking at the Pnyx, a hillside with views of the dramatic pillars of the Acropolis, the top U.S. diplomat excoriated prioritizing the “global community over one’s own” as “fashionable,” saying the ancient Greeks showed there is “nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else.”

In many ways, Rubio has been seen as a softer face of the Trump administration’s policies on Europe, which include saying the continent faces the prospect of “civilizational erasure.” At the Munich Security Conference in February, Rubio took a gentler tone to the same harsh message, saying the U.S. and Europe "belong together" but that the Trump administration would not be "orderly caretakers of the West's managed decline."

In his speech Wednesday, Rubio intensified his attacks. While he extolled Europe as ”the birthplace of the greatest civilization in the world,” he denounced the current state of the West as he saw it, where “nationalism became a dirty word” and where “we opened our borders and outsourced our industry and allowed our militaries to wither and decay.”

Rubio’s message reflects a pragmatic if belligerent approach he has struck in recent months on issues from the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign on Cuba. Earlier Wednesday, Rubio defended the U.S. approach to the current war with Iran, saying “they've lost complete control of the straits.” His alignment with the White House is particularly notable given Trump’s record-low approval rating and given that Rubio continues to be floated as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. Rubio has said he has “no plans”to run in the upcoming presidential cycle.

Still, Rubio said he was offering an opportunity to European countries to change their ways and “rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago” and added that “there are already signs.”

The Trump administration has been pushing for Europe to increase its military spending and tighten its borders, and Rubio applauded “model ally” Greece for its work on energy, migration and defense. The U.S. and Greece announced $4 billion in foreign military sales Wednesday as well as a new counterterrorism program. Rubio said he hoped Europe would follow Greece’s example.

“Though passion may at times have strained the bonds of affection between the United States and Europe, it must not be allowed to break,” he added.

Rubio said countries faced a crossroads. “The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world, or resigns itself to a future of atrophy, servitude and decline.”

The U.S. had made its choice, he added.

“We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power, to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future.”

Rubio touched on several points of tension between the U.S. and Europe.

He touted the recent U.S.-Denmark-Greenland deal as an “agreement that will reshape the Arctic and bolster the security of all of NATO.”

He also tied his view on Europe to his campaign against the International Criminal Court, which he has accused of infringing on American sovereignty.

“There is competition between great powers again. There is vulnerability, aggression, terrorism, a whole universe of new threats and attacks again. So we must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together, understanding that the purpose of these things is not to abolish the sovereignty of a nation that constitutes them, it is to defend them,” he said.

Greece is a central player in U.S. plans to export liquefied natural gas to Europe. Those plans have come under scrutiny in Washington after U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly implied to Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou that Washington had caused the collapse of Romania’s government and could do the same in Athens.

“We can do that to any country we want,” Guilfoyle reportedly said. “We can do that here,” she added.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, demanded answers from Rubio on Tuesday on Guilfoyle’s conduct, as did House Foreign Affairs ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). Asked about allegations against Guilfoyle during a separate appearance in Greece, Rubio said that “our embassy here is doing a great job, our ambassador’s been a strong ambassador here.”

Rubio is on a three-country trip that includes stops in Iceland and Portugal.

In Iceland, Rubio dealt with a flap after Trump posted a map showing Greenland and Iceland as part of U.S. territory. Þorgerður Katrin Gunnarsdóttir, Iceland’s foreign minister, summoned U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Billy Long to a meeting over the post.

Rubio said in Iceland that “everything is very positive.” Gunnarsdóttir said the matter had been resolved, and said “we remain focused on the future.”