The 62nd Munich Security Conference opened on 13 February 2026 in Munich, Germany, and this year's gathering feels different from past editions. For decades, Munich was about jets, troops, and treaties. Today, cyber and AI are no longer peripheral; they are part of the architecture of security itself. Cyber risks, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies like AI now sit alongside tanks and treaties on the agenda as European leaders try to make sense of a world where digital threats and geopolitical tensions are deeply intertwined.
We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. ... That international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim,
We are living in a world of great powers, with a real temptation to divide up the world, Macron said. We are being subjected to neocolonial aggressiveness by certain parties. The president's words arrive less than a week after the United States attacked Caracas and captured the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Macron's statement also comes after the Trump administration insisted on a possible annexation of Greenland.
