European Union leaders are advocating for greater European sovereignty amid strained relations with the United States.

“We want to cut through knots, we want to find solutions always with the goal of strengthening Europe’s sovereignty and making Europe strong. This is a very European moment,” on Monday.

“I believe what happened at the beginning of the year with Greenland woke up everyone who cares about Europe, and it’s leading us to stop getting bogged down in national interests or hiding behind them—instead, we’re ready to compromise,” he continued, referencing President Donald an incident where he briefly threatened to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his efforts.

Klingbeil made these comments ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, per Reuters.

His push for European self-reliance follows remarks by Kaja Kallas, the European Commission’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who pushed back against statements from U.S. Secretary of State Marco over the weekend.

In her Sunday address, Kallas told the audience: “Contrary to what some may say—woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure.”

“In fact, people still want to join our club. And not just fellow Europeans. When I was in Canada last year, I learned over 40% of Canadians are interested in joining the EU,” she claimed. “The waiting list is growing longer. I just hope those who’ve been waiting a long time won’t have to wait even more.”

“Those already in the union want it to take a stronger global role: to defend our values, care for our people, and advance humanity,” she said, later adding that “” is currently “very trendy.”

Kallas’s remarks appeared to respond to the day before, where he stated the U.S. will always be “a child of Europe” but also warned of perceived incoming threats.

He claimed that “acting together” will “restore a clearer sense of ourselves. It will restore our place in the world, and in doing so, rebuke and deter the forces of civilizational erasure that now menace both America and Europe.”

The concept of “civilizational erasure” in Europe was also raised in a last November, which argued EU nations’ policy decisions—including on migration—were having a harmful impact.

European policies are “creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence,” the report stated.

In Munich, while Rubio took a more conciliatory tone than Vice President J.D. , he repeatedly warned of “mass migration” dangers and said “we must gain control of our national borders.”

“If we disagree at times, our differences stem from a deep concern for Europe—we’re connected not just economically or militarily, but spiritually and culturally. We want Europe to be strong,” Rubio said, urging a united path forward.

European leaders, meanwhile, voiced concerns about transatlantic relations throughout the conference.

Danish Prime Minister shared her belief that Trump’s interest in Greenland “is not over.”

“Unfortunately, I think the desire remains the same… I also want to add that the pressure on Greenland is totally unacceptable. We’re talking about threats, but the people of Greenland have never been threatened by anyone before,” she said, noting there are “red lines we won’t cross” and a solution is still under discussion.

Prior to Rubio’s speech, German Chancellor Friedrich between the U.S. and Europe.

Merz argued the U.S. “won’t be powerful enough to go it alone” in the future and urged everyone to “repair and revive transatlantic trust together.”

Referring to from last year’s conference—where the Vice President targeted Europe’s view of free speech—Merz told the Munich audience: “The MAGA movement’s culture war isn’t ours… For us, freedom of speech ends when it violates human dignity or the constitution. We believe in free trade, not tariffs or protectionism.”