Germany’s human rights record has worsened over the past year, according to a U.S. State Department report that cites curbs on freedom of expression and rising anti-Semitic incidents, echoing earlier warnings from U.S. Vice President Vance about Europe’s internal vulnerabilities.
The annual report, presented in Washington on Tuesday by President Trump alongside Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, lists “restrictions on freedom of expression” and anti-Semitic violence as “significant human rights problems”. It criticises German regulations requiring online platforms to remove hate speech, describing such measures as a form of “censorship”.
It also faults German authorities for focusing their anti-Semitism efforts mainly on right-wing extremist groups while downplaying the role of antisemitic activity among immigrant Muslim communities. Similar criticisms are directed at France and the United Kingdom.
These concerns mirror remarks made by Vance at the Munich Security Conference in February. He warned that Europe’s greatest threats came from within rather than from external powers like Russia or China. He singled out what he saw as restrictions on free speech and failures in asylum policy, argued against the concept of political “firewalls” — saying there was “no place for firewalls” — and added that freedom of expression across Europe was “in retreat”. He also cited cases in Germany where police carried out house searches against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist content during a national campaign against misogyny.
