Elon Musk has infuriated Germany by claiming that the far-right AfD party is the only party that can ‘save’ the country, days after reports suggested he may donate as much as $100million to Nigel Farage.
The Tesla CEO today retweeted a video by a German rightwing activist about the leader of the centre-left CDU party, Friedrich Merz, adding: ‘Only the AfD can save Germany.’
The party’s leader, Alice Weidel, responded: ‘Yes! You are perfectly right.’
Though the German government refused to comment on the matter, lawmakers from across the political spectrum were up in arms over Musk’s comments.
‘It is threatening, irritating and unacceptable for a key figure in the future US government to interfere in the German election campaign,’ Dennis Radtke, an MEP for the centre-right CDU, told the Handelsblatt daily.
Germans are set to go to the polls on February 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition last month in a row over the budget.
Radtke called Musk a ‘threat to democracy in the Western world’, accusing the world’s richest man of turning X, previously called Twitter, into a ‘disinformation slingshot’.
Alex Schaefer, a lawmaker from Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats, said Musk’s post was ‘completely unacceptable’.
‘We are very close to the Americans, but now bravery is required towards our friend. We object to interference in our election campaign,’ Schaefer told the Tagesspiegel daily.
Elon Musk (pictured has infuriated Germany by claiming that the far-right AfD party is the only party that can ‘save’ the country
It comes amid reports suggesting he may donate as much as $100million to Nigel Farage (pictured)
The party’s leader, Alice Weidel (pictured), responded positively to Musk’s post
Former finance minister Christian Lindner, from the pro-business FDP party, said that some of Musk’s ideas had ‘inspired’ him but urged the Tesla boss not to ‘rush to conclusions from afar’.
‘While migration control is crucial for Germany, the AfD stands against freedom, business – and it’s a far-right extremist party,’ tweeted the politician, whose fallout with Scholz triggered the coalition’s implosion.
Scholz himself was restrained when asked about Musk’s comments, noting: ‘We have freedom of expression, which also applies to multi-billionaires’.
He added that this ‘means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain good political advice’.
At a regular press conference in Berlin, a government spokesman avoided commenting directly on Musk’s post, reiterating Scholz’s point that Germany respects freedom of expression.
But she added the government was worried about ‘how X has developed in recent years, especially since Elon Musk took over’.
Despite such concerns, the government had decided not to close its accounts on the platform as it remained an important channel for reaching out to people, she said.
It is not the first time Musk has weighed in on German politics.
Last month he tweeted in German that ‘Olaf is a fool’ after the collapse of Scholz’s government – with the chancellor responding that the comments were ‘not very friendly’.
Nigel Farage and Party treasurer Nick Candy during their meeting on Monday with with Elon Musk at Mar-A-Lago, the Florida home of US President Elect Donald Trump
The prospects of the world’s richest man putting his financial muscle behind Nigel Farage ’s fledgling party intensified this week
As a foreign citizen, Musk cannot donate directly to a political party in the UK. However, a loophole in Britain’s election laws means he could give an unlimited sum via one of his companies based in the UK
Mr Musk responded to Mr Farage’s post about their meeting on his X social media site
And last year Musk said Berlin-funded migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean could be seen as an ‘invasion’ of Italy.
Tesla has a factory outside Berlin, and Musk visited Germany ahead of the last national elections in 2021, meeting with Armin Laschet, who was then the candidate for the CDU/CSU bloc to become chancellor.
Laschet went on to lead the conservatives to their worst-ever results at the polls.
There have also been concerns in Britain that Musk is taking a close interest in the country’s political scene, appearing to cosy up to Reform’s Nigel Farage.
Musk is reported to be considering a donation of as much as $100million (£80million) to help build up Reform into a political machine capable of overthrowing Labour at a general election.
Britain’s elections watchdog is pushing for a change in the law that could prevent Musk from doing this.
As a foreign citizen Musk cannot donate directly to a political party in the UK. But a loophole in Britain’s election laws means he could give an unlimited sum via one of his companies based in the UK.
The Electoral Commission confirmed earlier this week it is pushing ministers to tighten the law to limit companies to donating only funds that are generated in the UK.
Chief executive Vijay Rangarajan said: ‘It’s crucial that UK voters have trust in the financing of our political system, so they need to see how parties and campaigners are financed and how they spend that money at elections.
Mr Rangarajan said officials were ‘discussing proposals with the Government’.
Downing Street said it was examining reform of electoral law, but it was not a priority for the current session of Parliament.
The PM’s official spokesman said Sir Keir was ‘committed to protecting democracy from the threat of foreign interference by strengthening the rules around donations’.
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