US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during the Munich Security Conference, did not deny the changes that transatlantic relations have undergone, sources said, the Financial Times (FT) reports.

Rubio is the best they can hope for from a US administration. But he was unequivocal that even if transatlantic relations are not broken, they are very different from what they were before, a European country’s minister, who attended the conference, told FT.

The problem is that if you break something, it is not easy to repair it. It is good that Rubio reached out, rather than starting to poke in the eye, but nothing has changed, another European minister said.

One European diplomat said that Rubio’s real message for Europe was hidden in his post-conference visits to Slovakia and Hungary, which observers say are the most problematic countries for EU authorities.

But some other officials said that the more conciliatory tone of Rubio’s speech, compared with that of US Vice President JD Vance at the 2025 Munich conference, suggests that transatlantic relations could still return to normal.

In essence, Rubio repeated Vance’s analysis of the decline of Western civilization and mass migration. But from a practical point of view, which is essential for Europe, he was able to convince them of his pro-NATO stance. And they can work together on this basis, said a source familiar with German politics.