U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Europe is “totally sidelined” on the world stage as “wrecking bolt” politics has become the norm, the president of the continent’s biggest security forum has said.
Speaking to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach ahead of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Wolfgang Ischinger, the organization’s president, said it was “Europe’s fault” that its power on the world stage had been diminished.
“Europe has failed to speak with one voice to China and about China, it has failed to speak with one voice, to propose a clear concept on the future of the Middle East, including on how to deal or not to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue,” said Ischinger, former German ambassador to the United States.
Earlier this week, the MSC released its 2026 report, for which Ischinger wrote the foreword. He warns that “the world has entered a period of demolition politics,” where “mass destruction… is the order of the day.”
The report said US President Donald Trump was “at the forefront of those promising to free their countries from the constraints of the existing order and rebuild stronger, more prosperous nations”, saying he was just a movement “driven by resentment and regret at the liberal trajectory their societies have embarked on”.
Ischinger told CNBC that the Europeans were “totally on the sidelines” in the negotiations over Gaza and Ukraine.
“We have no role. Things were decided by others,” he said. “When I look at the war in Ukraine, Europe has no place,” he said, adding that the United States and Russia were leading the discussions.
American delegates led peace talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials since late 2025, with European officials scrambling to keep a say in how to end the four-year war between the two countries.
“Why the hell don’t we have a place at the negotiating table? This is our continent. This is our future,” Ischinger said on Friday. “The answer, of course, is not that Donald Trump is making a mistake. The answer… is that we have failed to speak with one voice.”
Ischinger added that he rejected “the blame game against the United States”, but for areas in which Europe “clearly failed” to adopt a strategic position.
Delegates from around the world are gathering on Friday for the Munich Security Conference. The event runs until Sunday.
Ischinger told CNBC that the “wrecking ball” was “used by many” besides Trump, including far-right parties across Europe and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But he called Trump “the most prominent example” of someone who “questions existing arrangements and attempts to replace them.” “This is a worrying development for countries like Germany, which are so dependent on existing international rules,” he added.
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CNBC has contacted the White House and the Kremlin for responses to the MSC’s comments.
Transatlantic trust has also been damaged by Trump’s push for the United States to annex Greenland, Ischinger said.
After weeks of rhetoric about putting Washington under control of the Arctic island – a Danish territory – Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European allies who got in his way, before announcing a “deal” on Greenland had been concluded.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, European leaders have commitments to significantly increase security spending. Last summer, European members of NATO agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of their individual national GDP – a move Trump had advocated for some time.
The spending plans have boosted European defense bonuses, some of which more than doubled in value, while order books reached record levels.
Ischinger told CNBC that Europe needs to “create a more consolidated, more competitive and more unified defense industry.”
