Article publish by Domenico Moro on 16 February 2026 on "La Porta di Vetro"
https://www.laportadivetro.com/post/monaco-conferma-ue-e-usa-sempre-pi%C3%B9-distanti-tra-di-loro
The first to speak out was Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, who, during his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos (last January 21st), began by stating: "Today I will speak about the breakdown of the world order, the end of a beautiful story, and the beginning of a brutal reality, where geopolitics between great powers is subject to no constraints." He later added: "We knew that the story of the rules-based international order was partially false. We knew the strongest would take advantage of it when they found it convenient, and that trade rules were applied asymmetrically. We knew international law was applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim." Carney also sought to explain why this world order, despite its flaws, stood the test of time, observing with great lucidity that "this fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for dispute resolution frameworks," before adding, "this pact no longer works."
The end of the world order as we have known it was also the focus of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Munich Security Conference (February 13-15), where he went even further than Carney’s denunciation. Referring to the conference title ("Under Destruction"), Merz stated: "This title likely means that the international order, founded on law and rules, is on the brink of collapse. I fear it must be stated even more clearly. This order, however imperfect it may have been even at its peak, no longer exists in its original form." Later, with greater emphasis—aiming to highlight the cultural gap between the two sides of the Atlantic—he continued: "Let me start with an uncomfortable truth. A gap, a deep rift, has opened between Europe and the United States of America. Vice President J.D. Vance stated this right here in Munich a year ago. His analysis was correct. The MAGA movement’s culture war in the United States has nothing to do with our freedom of expression; our freedom ends where this discourse attacks human dignity and the Basic Law [the German Constitution]."
The intervention of Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, during the same conference, was "Gattopardian." The content of his speech inevitably recalled Tancredi Falconeri’s famous line: "If we want everything to stay as it is, everything must change." While Rubio acknowledged that the old world order no longer exists, he claimed that the new world order is being built by President Trump, implying that Europeans will have no choice but to follow suit.
Regarding the nature of this order and the means it should employ, Rubio outlined his vision after paying "lip service" to common Western civilization and the United Nations. He claimed the UN had failed to solve the major challenges of our time and that only American leadership "has allowed for a fragile truce" (to his credit, unlike Trump, he did not say it "allowed for peace between Palestinians and Israelis"). However, he made no mention of the behavior of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, whose settlement policy is undermining the "two-state solution," nor did he acknowledge that a truce is non-existent, given the daily Palestinian casualties.
Furthermore, he reiterated that only American leadership succeeded in bringing Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table—ignoring the fact that Russian bombings have not ceased and that, prior to the latest negotiations, the U.S. had supported a "peace" plan clearly inspired solely by the Kremlin.
Finally, he noted that the United Nations "proved incapable of curbing the nuclear program of the radical Shia clerics in Tehran. It took 14 precision bombs dropped by American B-2 bombers. And they were unable to address the threat to our security posed by a narco-terrorist dictator in Venezuela. It was American special forces that had to intervene to bring this fugitive to justice." Here too, violations of international law and its asymmetric application are considered entirely secondary under the new American approach, despite Netanyahu also being wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Earlier, Rubio had theorized this stance by stating: "We can no longer put the alleged world order ahead of the vital interests of our peoples and our nations." It is now clear that the U.S. is no longer particularly interested in a "world order." What matters—the core of MAGA ideology—is solely American interest. Europeans, according to Rubio’s hopes, would simply continue to accept American hegemony over the continent. The politico-cultural detachment between the current Trumpian administration and the EU has never been deeper.
It remains unclear whether those who applauded Rubio failed to understand his meaning—which is possible, though unjustifiable—or whether, having understood perfectly, their applause implied consent, which would be grave and unacceptable for Europeans. The substance of Rubio’s speech was, in fact, no different from J.D. Vance’s speech a year earlier.
A final observation concerns the Italian government. In recent days, Italian newspapers have discussed the birth of a presumed "Italo-German axis," opposed to the traditional Franco-German one. The impression—to be confirmed in the coming weeks—is that this axis, if it exists, is already showing cracks. The differences between a European policy based on multilateralism and Trump’s policy based solely on strength are stark (one cannot forget Trump’s speech at the Knesset on October 13, 2025, where he claimed "peace is achieved through strength").
The "cover" the Italian government offers to American policy against the violation of the international order and multilateral institutions has become as thin as tissue paper. Soon, it will no longer be possible to ignore these violations; Italy must acknowledge, as Merz has, the politico-cultural divide separating the EU from the USA and make a clear choice. This transition will become unavoidable as the EU emancipates itself from U.S. security dependence by developing an autonomous security policy.
This is a prospect that, beyond Merz’s recurring rhetoric that "Europe must become a global political force with its own security strategy," focuses more concretely on making the Bundeswehr "the most powerful conventional army in Europe, as quickly as possible. An army capable of resisting if necessary." Europeans are waiting to hear a similar commitment from Merz and other European heads of state regarding the EU as a whole.