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AP
MUNICH
German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to the United States and others on Saturday to support and bolster multilateral organizations such as the European Union, the United Nations and NATO, an alliance to which U.S. Vice President Mike Pence pledged America's commitment was"unwavering."
Merkel told Pence and other world leaders, diplomats and defense officials at the Munich Security Conference that"acting together strengthens everyone."
Her address came amid concern about the Trump administration's approach to international affairs and fears that it may have little interest in working in multilateral forums.
"Will we be able to continue working well together, or will we all fall back into our individual roles?"Merkel asked."I call on us, and I hope we will find a common position on this, let's make the world better together and then things will get better for every single one of us."
Pence sought immediately to address concerns raised by President Donald Trump's comments questioning whether NATO was"obsolete."
Pence told the group:"I bring you this assurance: The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to our transatlantic alliance."
"Your struggles are our struggles. Your success is our success, Pence said.
"And ultimately, we walk into the future together."he added.
Merkel conceded room for improvement in multilateral structures, saying that in many places they are not efficient enough.
"I am firmly convinced that it is worth fighting for our common international multilateral structures, but we must improve them in many places,"she said.
German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, also the country's foreign minister, expressed skepticism about Pence's pledges.
She said that Pence agreed Europe needed to work with the U.S. on the basis of common values. But in a barely veiled reference to Trump.
He said"both countries must define their interests, and our foreign policies should not be driven by ideology."
"Ideologies lead to hostile concepts that might not be able to be overcome,"said Gabriel, who is chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Merkel's junior coalition partner.
Going ahead, he said Europeans"should hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,"he said.
Merkel, who met with Pence one-on-one following their addresses, acknowledged that Europeans couldn't fight global issues like Islamic extremist terrorism alone. saying"we need the military power of the United States against extremism.
