The billionaire’s interest in Europe has divided opinion, with some leaders raising alarm, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni insists there is “no danger”.
In a broadcast with party leaders, Elon Musk called on German voters to support the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s national elections.
The US tech billionaire, who will play a role in US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, livestreamed a conversation with AfD prime ministerial candidate Alice Weidel on social media platform X on Thursday.
More than 190,000 X accounts took part in the chat, in which Musk introduced Weidel as “a strong candidate to run Germany” and warned viewers to vote for his party.
“Only the AfD can save Germany. End of story,” he said.
Musk, who is expected to take on an advisory role in the Trump administration, has increasingly expressed support for far-right parties in Europe, with particular interest in economic powerhouse Germany, where car company Tesla opened its first European factory in 2022. It shows.
During the chat, Musk emphasized his support for the anti-immigration and anti-Islam party AfD, and had previously shared his views in an X post and an opinion piece published in Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Musk and Weidel compared the media’s treatment of the AfD to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s treatment of pro-Jewish voices in the 1930s, while criticizing Germany’s “crazy” energy policies, excessive bureaucracy, , agreed that they are being held back by unchecked immigration.
“People like to censor things they don’t agree with,” Musk said, insisting that Weidel was “not proposing anything outrageous.”
Musk, who describes himself as a liberal, called German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a “tyrant” for criticizing the AfD and asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz after a car attack at a German Christmas market last month. He asked for his resignation.
Both men belong to the center-left Social Democratic Party.
“Lies and misinformation”
Leaders across Europe have expressed alarm at Musk’s political interference. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused Musk of undermining democracy without naming him directly, while France’s foreign minister urged the European Union to enforce its laws more strongly to prevent outside interference. asked to do so.
But Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right anti-immigrant Brotherhood of Italy party, defended Musk on Thursday.
“I don’t think there is such a danger to democracy. Elon Musk is a very famous and wealthy person who expresses his ideas,” she said.
Meloni’s administration is currently considering a possible communications security contract that relies on Starlink, part of Musk’s SpaceX business.
Italy’s leader said that as there is currently no Italian or EU-backed system to replace Starlink, Italy faces the dilemma of how to protect sensitive communications.
But the project has been heavily criticized by opposition parties, who question whether Musk’s company should be left in charge of handling such communications.
“Is the problem with SpaceX that it’s a private company or is it Elon Musk’s politics?” Meloni asked.
