Weve all been there over past years. This year they are still there but this year we are also asking ourselves much more fundamentally, are we seeing the beginning of the end of the westernled order after liberal International Order. We know why were asking the question now, its President Trump. But its also much more structural than that. Its been coming for a very long time. The rise of china. P populism in europe. Brexit. Explosions in the middle east. And we have to ask ourselves, number one, can china or anyone else step in . Number two, if they cant, will we have an order without a leader and what does that mean . And number three, is to the extent that u. S. Leadership is taking a big hit, can the americans get it back . I think to answer those questions, theres no one better to kick it off than senator john mccain. Senator . [ applause ] thank you, thank you for the kind introduction. And can i say, trying to follow bono reminds me of the story of the actress gentleman gentleman Zsa Zsa Gabors husband said on their wedding night, i know what im supposed to do, i just dont know how to make it interesting. So any weigh [ laughter ]w weigh [ laughter ]a weigh [ laughter ]y weigh [ laughter ]weigh [ laughter ]eigh [ laughter ]igh [ laughter ]gh [ laughter ]h [ laughter ] [ laughter ]to do, i just dont make it interesting. So anyway [ laughter ] not every american understands the vital position of germany. All of us who do, let me say, thank you. My friends, in the four decades i have attended this conference, i cannot recall a year where its purpose was more necessary or more important than this panel is going to ask us to consider whether the west will survive. In recent years this question would invite accusations of hyperbole and alarmism. Not this year. If ever there was a time to treat this question with a deadly seriousness, it is now. This question was real half a century ago. When van cloudy ski they did not assume that the west would survive because they had seen its near annihilation. They saw open markets give way to beggars thy neighbor protectionism and the poverty it imposeed. They saw world order clash into passio passi passions and the misery that brought t brought. They saw the rise of hostility. From the ashes of the most awful calamity in Human History was born what we call the west. A new and different and better world order. Not one based on blood and soil nationalism. The conquest of the weak by the strong. But rather on universal values, rule of law, open commerce and respect for the National Sovereignty and independence. Indeed, the entire idea of the west is that it is open to any person or any nation that honors and upholds these values. The unprecedented period of security and prosperity that we have enjoyed for the past seven decades didnt happen by accident. It happened not only because of the appeal of our values, but because we back them up with our power and persevered in their defense. Our predecessors did not believe in the end of history. Or that it bends intestify tableably towards justice. Thats up to us. That requires our persistent painstaking effort and thats why we come to munich year after year after year. [ applause ] what would von clis s. E generation fear if they saw what was going on today . They would be alarmed by it. They would be alarmed by the universal values and toward old ties of blood and race and sectarianism. They would be alarmed by the hardening resentment we see towards immigrants and refugees and minority groups. Especially muslims. They would be alarmed by the growing inability and even unwillingness to separate truth from lies. They would be alarmed that more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent. But what would alarm them most i think is a sense that many of our peoples, including in my own count country, are giving up on the west. They see it as a bad deal that we may be better off without and that while western nations still have the power to maintain our world order its unclear whether we have the will. All of us must accept our share of blame for this turn of events. We grew complacent. We made mistakes. At times we tried to do too much and at others we failed to do enough. We lost touch with many of our people. Weve been too slow to recognize and respond to their hardships. We need to face up to these realities but this does not mean losing hope and retreating. That we must not do. I know i know theres profound concern across europe and the world that americas laying down the mantle of global leadership. Can i only speak for myself but i do not believe that that is the message you will hear from all of the american leaders who cared enough to travel here to munich this weekend. Thats not the message you heard today from secretary of defense jim mattis. Thats not the message you will hear from Vice President mike pence. Thats not the message you will hear from secretary of Homeland Security john kelly. And that is certainly not the message you will hear tomorrow from our bipartisan congressional delegation. Make no mistake, my friends, these are dangerous times, but you should not count america out. And we should not [ applause ] and we should not count each other out. We must be prudent but we cannot wring our hands and wallow in self doubt. We cannot allow ourselves to question the rightness and goodness of the west. We must understand and learn from our mistake. But we cannot be paralyzed by fear. We cannot give up on ourselves and on each other. That is the definition of deck dents. That what our adversaries want. This is their goal. They have no allies so they want to divide us from each other. They know their power is ic inferior to ours. They want to erode our wall to resist and put us in passivity. They know they have little beyond the world beyond selfishness and fear. They seek to undermine our confidence in ourselves and belief in our own values. We must take our own side in this fight. We must be vigilant. We must persevere and we must never ever cease to involve in the moral superiority of our own values that we stand for truth against false hood, right against injustice, hope against despair, and that even though we will inevitably take losses and suffer setbacks, through it all, as long as people have goodwill and courage, refuse to lose faith in the west, itll endure. Thats why we come to munich. Thats why we come to munich. Year in and year out. To revitalize our common moral purpose, beliefs that our values are worth fighting for. Because in the final analysis, the survival of the west is not just a material struggle. It is now, and has always been, a moral struggle. Now more than ever we must not forget this. During one of the darkest days of the early cold war, the Great American novelist William Faulkner delivered a short speech in stockholm upon receiving the nobel prize for literature. I declined to accept the end of man, faulkner said, i believe that man will not merely endure, he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. Even now when the temptation to despair is greatest, i refuse to accept the end of the west. I refuse to accept the demise of our world order. I refuse to accept that our greatest try fum ofs cannot once again spring from our moments of greatest peril as they have so many times before. I refuse to accept that our values are morally equivalent to those of our adversaries. Im a proud unapologetic believer in the west. I believe we must always, always stand up for it. For if we do not, who will . Thank you. [ applause ] glad you made it, man. No problem. I think we can tell from the room that a spirited and fullthroated defense of the west is something that resonate well with the spirit of munich. And i thank senator mccain for that. Of course, the fact that it is a defense of the west does imply that this has become somewhat more controversial in this room and more broadly than in previous years and very distinguished panel will help us work through that. I have the president from poland. I have the president from ukraine. I have, of course, foreign secretary Boris Johnson from the uk. And i have foreign minister from the netherlands. They will give us quick opening views about the extent to which they believe that the western order is under threat and the implications of that. Then we will have, i think, a fairly lively discussion amongst ourselves and with the rest of you. And at the end, im bringing the Chinese Foreign minister here because how could you conclude a discussion about the future of the west without china . So with that, let me start next to senator mccain with president duda. Please, sir. Okay. It is not the first time i have taken part in a discussion where the participants have to come from, with the question will the west survive. To all those who expect to witness the down fall of the west, i would like to dedicate the words of mark twain. There were parts of my death have been greatly exaggerated. But politics is an literature. Its not about finding clever answers to these types of questions. Its about finding Effective Solutions and implementing them. What we are really actually going to experience in the following years, perhaps even months, depends entirely on our access. I firmly believe that in order to consider the future of the west in terms of combe back rather than down fall, first we need unity. Second, we need responsive elements. Thats in my opinion, two pillars of the good future of europe and i think also the good future of the world. History proves that western world has always been strong and stable. When it was also been united. Unity is the bedrock of our strength and security. If the west is to come back, it can only come back unified. If the west is to fall down, it will fall down in parts. As the president of poland, i know very well that the divisions of west have never caused any good for central europe. That is why my country works actively for the unity of our region and for it to be a part of the united western world. The latest displace of our unity are the results of the warsaw nato summit. This result must be fully implemented. Its the matter of our defense and deterrence capabilities. Only when we are strong, we can enter into dialogue. The basis of our strength is a transatlantic bond. We must not recklessly put it into question. It is our task to engage with a new u. S. Administration which would preserve the common interest of the Euro Atlantic Community by common interest i mean security. We all realize that consequences of the potential destabilization in europe will be felt on both side of the atlantic. Furthermore, when we speak about euro atlantic unit we cannot discuss the brexit. Britain might leave eu, but it is in our interest that it does not abandon the European Security architecture. The uk is a strong pillar of nato. Also a key partner in the European Defense corporation. Therefore, we have to frame the Common Security and defense policy in a way which would allow britain to actively participate. Apart from unity, its the response of government that has always been a source of strength and stability in the west. By responsiveness, i mean the capability to react according to citizens will. To meet their expectations. Meanwhile, nowa days, so many people experience a lack of trust towards state institution and government. What is more, political elite look at election with fear rather than hope. On top of that, the legitimacy of democratic elected government says often put into question. This may lead to the impression that west is reaction aiary in traditional sense of that word. Its Political Class resemble the lou louis xvi of france on the eve of the french revolution. The window of political change can be felt throughout the western world. The political elite should not try to stop this change. Because its unavailable. On the contrary, they should turn their attention towards managing it so that the effect of this change are constructive rather than destructive. I strongly believe it is one of the Biggest Challenges facing the western Political Class. If you really want the west to come back, we find that to tackle this challenge effectively. And lets face it. Not everyone is interesting in the western world. We need to be honest with ourselves. The west has enemies. They want us to be divided. They also want our elite to be detached from the people they represent. That is why we must reaffirm the cohesion of the western community. But also and perhaps equally importantly we must be able to respond to the hostile policy aimed at breaking our community. We, the representatives of the western world, cannot allow ourselves to be afraid. As mr. Senator said. We should not fear to use all the strengths at our disposal to counter our enemies. Which is what i wish to all of us. Thank you. So, you heard from president duda the importance of the unity of the west. There is certainly no one at this panel that has suffered more from the disunity of the west than you. So i would hope that we can talk a little bit of that as you talk about where you think the west is going. Sir, the floor is yours. Thank you, very much. Indeed, your excellences, ladies and gentlemen, i want to thank ambassador for many years to have discussion about the most important question. Question of global European Security. And thank you to chancellor american and whole leader of the European Union and their personal involvement in the process to keep europe safer and to bring peace on the ukrainian soil. Here, here. Let me start with a very famous quotation from the 1938. I believe it is a peace for our time and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep. End of the quote. These are the words of the chamberlain in defense of the munich backed. Most likely those were inspired by the promise of the nazis right after munich that they will not have any territorial claims in europe. As we all know, appeasement was very long things to do. One should never believe in the goodwill of someone who proved that he has no good will. But do we know what is the right thing to do back then . Probably staying in a strong unit. And probably this is a historic appeal to all of us from 1938. Appeal from all of the people that had to die in the following years because someone had a nice quiet sleep at a wrong time. Things got poll aggressive russia is not the mainstream in the western policy. However i hear increasingly obsessive calls for at least some degree of impeasment to what russias appetite. To move in that direction, would be naive, wrong, and dangerous. But open hi for ukraine, but also for the europe, and for the world. Allow me explaining why. First of all, putin hate ukraine by deeply and sincerely. He denies unique identity of ukraine and people. I know that personally. He publicly proclaim ukraine an identity as a part of russian dominant identity. He sees no place for ukraine and political map of europe. And he wants to draw a place for europe in russian colors. But it will be a mistake to think that russias appetite are limited to ukraine only. And let me remind you one story. Last year in november, president butt putin took part in ceremony of Award Winners by geographical association. Where do the russias border end . He asked one student in the audience. Russian border end at the Bering Strait with the United States was the answer of the student. That was the right answer. But putin still corrected the boy and said, russian border ends nowhere. Although he said afterwards that it was a joke. It is contiguous. It is a circle. It was not a joke at all. In many countries, be in the European Union or beyond atlantic, have already felt the action. There only one time and one place the countdown and and the time is now. And the place is ukraine. [ applause ] this is absolute historic chance for all of us. But above all, this is a historic chance for the new years administration and solid transatlantic unity. I have exact confirmation of that speaking a few minutes ago with a new secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who confirm me that our unity as president and senator mccain said, and our solidarity. This is exactly what we need now. This is a unique window of opportunity for the soft power to show its trends. This is a window, too small in time, and opportunity is still available. Ukraines only sin is that my country once decided to live independently on their own soil and under their democratic values. Freedom and democracy. We want freedom. And russia want to punish us for that. I have represent here my 45 million nation of european people. On their behalf, let me assure you that we never agree that someone or somewhere would determine our trade behind us. Any behavior behind our back will be immediately decisively by million of ukrainians who have proved its ability to fight for their independence. We have no intention to give up. And ready to defend our country. My message is very simple, nothing about ukraine without ukraine. Any deal with putin behind ukraine would only aggravate the situation. Supporting ukraine is only way to stop ongoing aggression and bring russia back to respect in International Law and global order. Allow me to remind you, ukraine contributed a great later to cause these instability than we have received in return. The notorious budapest memorandum is an illustrative example in the matter. Because ukraine was the third Biggest Nuclear nation in the world. And we voluntarily give up our third Biggest Nuclear arsenal. Support in ukraine is the cheapest invest many in the security of the free world. The tools are there. First, there is nothing more encouraging for us than the transatlantic commune it to keep promises before partners and stay strong in unity and solidarity. Second, there is nothing more sobering for moscow than result of the breath to enforce its thread lines with a with the sanction. Sanction our essence, not liability. The manifestation of our streng