Musk provokes European leaders ahead of conversation with German far-right leader

Few European leaders have felt the brunt of Elon Musk’s social media outbursts more than German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The tech billionaire who owns X called him an “incompetent fool” and urged him to resign. On Thursday, Musk will use his platform to invite Alice Weidel, head of Germany’s far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party, for a long talk.

For many German politicians this smacks of political interference, with the AfD in second place in polls ahead of the February 23 federal election.

“You have to stay calm,” says Scholz. “Don’t feed the troll.”

Although some of Europe’s leaders, notably Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, have found favor with Musk, others are finding it difficult to ignore him, as he ventures into his domestic politics before taking on a new role as an adviser to the incoming US president. Donald Trump.

In 24 hours, four European governments have objected to Musk’s publications.

Frenchman Emmanuel Macron was one of the first to express disbelief on Monday.

“Ten years ago, who would have believed it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and directly intervene in the elections, also in Germany?” said.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store also weighed in, saying he found it “worrying that a man with considerable access to social networks and significant economic resources is so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries.”

The spokesperson for the Spanish Government, Pilar Alegría, stated that digital platforms like X must act with “absolute neutrality and above all without any type of interference.”

Musk has highlighted crime statistics in Norway and Spain, and blamed a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany on “uncontrolled mass immigration.”

In recent days, Musk has written numerous posts attacking UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his administration over grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation.

“Those who spread lies and disinformation as far as possible are not interested in the victims, but in themselves,” the British prime minister stated, without mentioning Musk personally.

Two notable exceptions in Europe are Italy and Hungary.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has cultivated close ties with Elon Musk, calling him a “genius” and “innovator extraordinaire.”

And Hungarian Viktor Orban, who met Musk while visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, shares Musk’s dislike of Hungarian-born liberal philanthropist George Soros.

But the most controversial thing is the intervention of the technology billionaire in German politics, due to the imminent elections.

In recent weeks he has spoken out several times in favor of the AfD and wrote a highly controversial article for Welt am Sonntag in which he called the AfD the “last spark of hope” for Germany.

Musk then justified his intervention by the financial investment of his company Tesla in Germany. He said that portraying the AfD as right-wing extremist was “clearly false”, because Alice Weidel had a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka.

German security services have labeled the AfD as far-right or suspected extremist, and courts have ruled that it pursues anti-democracy goals.

While Olaf Scholz has tried to remain calm, the Greens’ candidate for chancellor, Robert Habeck, was more forceful: “Don’t touch our democracy, Mr. Musk.”

FDP liberal leader Christian Lindner has suggested that Musk’s goal could perhaps be to weaken Germany in the interests of the United States, “recommending voting for a party that would harm us economically and isolate us politically.”

Former head of the European Commission’s digital agenda, Thierry Breton, took to X last weekend to warn AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel that Thursday’s live chat with Musk would give her “a significant advantage.” and valuable over its competitors.

The European Commission has said there is nothing in the EU’s digital services rules that prohibits a live broadcast or anyone expressing personal opinions.

However, a spokesperson warned that platform owners should not offer “preferential treatment”. Musk’s X is already under investigation and the EU says the livestream will be under that investigation.

While Musk has been outspoken about German politics, he has also been expanding his business interests in Italy.

Giorgia Meloni had just made a whirlwind trip to dine with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago when reports emerged that Italy was in talks with Musk’s SpaceX to sign a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) deal, under which Starlink satellites would provide encrypted Internet and telecommunications services for the Italian government.

The deal does not appear to have been finalized yet and Roma has quickly denied that any contract has been signed.

Musk said on Monday that he was “ready to provide Italy with the most secure and advanced connectivity,” without confirming that a deal had been reached.

But the suggestion that Starlink could be entrusted with safeguarding Italian government communications was enough to cause alarm among some opposition politicians in Rome.

“Delivering such a delicate service to Musk while he sponsors the European far-right, spreads fake news and interferes in the internal politics of European countries cannot be an option,” said centrist leader Carlo Calenda.