Reaction from the EU summit after JD Vance was booed at the opening of the Olympics in Italy
Kaja Kallas. Credit line: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
People who booed US Vice President JD Vance at the Winter Olympics showed “European pride” following a series of comments critical of Europe by US officials, European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday, Politico quoted.
Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, were greeted with boos and whistles at Milan's San Siro stadium last week when they appeared briefly on a giant screen waving American flags during the opening ceremony.
The bloc's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, was asked about the booing in a Euronews show on Monday.
“Well, I think we've heard a lot of not-so-nice words from the United States regarding Europe,” Kaja Kallas said.
“Of course, our audience also has a pride, a European pride. It shows,” she added.
The remarks by the EU's top diplomat capture the strained state of EU-US relations ahead of the February 13-15 Munich Security Conference (SC), where European leaders are set to meet with members of US President Donald Trump's administration.
Last year at the MSC, Vance shocked many Europeans with comments critical of the EU, which he accused of stifling free speech and risking erasing civilization over migration. Vance and other Trump administration officials followed up with other disparaging comments, with the vice president recently accusing the Europeans of double standards in how they treat US representatives.
“The Europeans are so friendly privately and they're willing to compromise a lot, and then they attack us publicly and say, 'We're not going to work with the Americans. We're not going to do anything with the Americans,'” Vance said in an interview published Saturday.
“I'm sorry. It's all fake,” he added.
