this conference of course to discuss security and normally we mean threats to our external security I see mil many great military leaders gathered here today but while the Trump Administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine and we also believe that it's important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense the threat that I worry the most about vvv Europe is not Russia it's not China it's not any other external actor and
what I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values values shared with the United States of America now I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annuled and entire election he warned that if things don't go to plan the very same thing could happen in Germany too now these Cavalier statements are shocking to American ears for years we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared Democratic
Values everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is build as a defense of democracy but when we see European courts cancelling elections and Senior officials threatening to cancel others we ought to ask whether we're holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard and I say ourselves because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team we must do more than talk about Democratic Values we must live them now within living memory of many of you in this room the Cold War positioned Defenders of democracy against much more ter iCal forces on this continent and
consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents that closed churches that cancelled elections were they the good guys certainly not and thank God they lost the Cold War they lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty the freedom to surprise to make mistakes to invent to build as it turns out you can't mandate Innovation or creativity just as you can't force people what to think what to feel or what to believe and we believe those things are certainly connected and unfortunately when I look at Europe today it sometimes
not so clear what happened to some of the cold Wars winners I Look to Brussels where EU commiss commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they've judged to be quote hateful content or to this very country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of quote combating misogyny on the internet a day of action I Look to Sweden where two weeks ago the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Quan burnings that resulted
in his friends murder and as the judge in his case chillingly noted Sweden's laws to supposedly Protect free expression do not in fact Grant and I'm quoting a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief and perhaps most concerningly I Look to our very dear friends the United Kingdom where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic Liberties of religious Britain in particular in the crosshairs a little over two years ago the British government charged Adam Smith Connor a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an army veteran with
the heinous crime of standing 50 m from an abortion clinic and silently praying for 3 minutes not obstructing anyone not interacting with anyone just silently praying on his own and after British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he he was praying for Adam replied simply it was on behalf of The Unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before now the officers were not moved Adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new buffer zones law which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200
meters of an abortion facility he was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution now I wish I could say that this was a fluke a one-off crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person but no this last October just a few months ago the Scottish government began Distributing letters to Citizens whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones warning them that even private prayer within their own homes May amount to Breaking the Law naturally the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens susp ected guilty
of thought crime in Britain and across Europe free speech I fear is in Retreat and in the interest of Comedy my friends but also in the interest of truth I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe but from within my own country where the prior Administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation misinformation like for for example the idea that Corona virus had likely leaked from leaked from a laboratory in China our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what
turned out to be an obvious truth so I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer and just as the B Administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds so the Trump Administration will do precisely the opposite it and I hope that we can work together on that in Washington there is a new sheriff in town and under Donald Trump's leadership we may disagree with your views but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the Public Square agree or disagree
