Europe
being invaded by ‘dangerous ideologies,’ Hegseth warns in D-Day speech
“When
will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I
believe not,” U.S.
defense chief said at Normandy commemoration.
June 6,
2026 8:18 pm CET
By Jones
Hayden
U.S.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day commemoration speech on Saturday to
warn Europe about an invasion of “dangerous ideologies,” urging the continent
to act against mass immigration.
Speaking
on the 82nd anniversary of the June 6, 1944, Allied beach landings in Normandy,
Hegseth said: “Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous
ideologies — beaches
in Spain, in Italy, in Greece and Bulgaria; boats and men arrive.”
“When
will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I
believe not,” Hegseth
said in his speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in
northwestern France.
The D-Day
ceremony commemorated the 1944 landings in Normandy, when U.S. and Allied
forces crossed the English Channel to launch the liberation of Western Europe
from Nazi occupation.
Hegseth’s
remarks echoed comments by other American officials, including U.S. President
Donald Trump, who have criticized European countries for failing to control
immigration. Washington in December, in its National Security Strategy, warned
that Europe faced potential “civilizational erasure” driven by migration,
weakening national identities and government policies that allegedly undermine
sovereignty.
U.S. Vice
President JD Vance on Friday blamed the death of a British teenager last year
on the West’s “politics of self-hatred” and “the mass invasion of migrants” —
comments that were quickly denounced by the U.K. government.
Saying
that each Allied country “pulled its weight” in the D-Day invasion, Hegseth on
Saturday also called on European governments to step up their commitment to
defense capabilities.
“America
will lead. We must,” Hegseth said. “But capable allies must be right there with
us, shoulder to shoulder, in the breach, when it matters,” he stressed.
“We stand
by our allies. And we expect our allies capable and ready to stand along side
us,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth
met with French Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin on the margins
the D-Day commemoration where he stressed the need for “burden sharing among
capable, committed Allies,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Hegseth
and Vautrin “discussed the urgent need for NATO allies to assume primary
responsibility for the conventional defense of the European continent by
increasing defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, boosting defense industrial
base production, and fielding combat credible forces,” according to the
Pentagon statement.
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