In the six weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, Europe has been preparing for a US administration that could test traditional transatlantic alliances.
That feeling of uncertainty has just been enhanced by a new disruptive force: billionaire Elon Musk, who has made it clear that he intends to leave his mark on politics and policies not only in Washington but also in Europe.
On Friday, as U.S. lawmakers scrambled to avert an imminent government shutdown, Musk used his social media platform . of the tripartite ruling coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote, using the German initials of Alternative for Germany, the party best known for its stridently anti-immigrant stance, long-standing ties to neo-Nazis and the “extremist” designation the party receives. Germany's internal intelligence service. has given him his youth wing.
The world's richest man has previously made provocative statements about German politics, but the timing of his latest comments, coinciding with signs that he intends to leverage his position in the Trump administration by leading an advisory commission on government efficiency to play a role, wide-ranging in the new US administration. – caused unrest not only in Germany but throughout Europe.
Establishment parties and governments elsewhere on the continent feel vulnerable after a series of anti-establishment shocks, including the ouster this month of France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a blow to President Emmanuel Macron, who appointed him.
Major organizations, including the European Union and NATO, are also watching and concerned about potential destabilizing moves by Trump that could include protracted trade disputes and the withdrawal of crucial US military support to Ukraine as it seeks to fight a nearly three-year crisis. . Large scale invasion by Russia.
Musk's foray into German politics came just after far-right British politician Nigel Farage, who for years has been a fixture in Trump's orbit, declared this week that the Tesla and Space in South Africa, was considering a historically large contribution to its reform. Party, prompting calls for swift action to tighten Britain's rules on political donations, which are already much stricter than those in the United States.
In Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and political center of gravity, Musk's comment shook the political establishment and sparked expressions of joy among supporters of the AfD, whose nationalist-populist message has helped it advance in state elections this year. to the European Parliament.
The party hopes to pose a strong challenge to Friedrich Merz, the favorite to replace Scholz in a national vote scheduled for February, but other major political blocs have already declared they would not accept the AfD as a coalition partner.
AfD leader Alice Weidel was quick to thank Musk for his vote of confidence online, declaring: “You're absolutely right!”
In a video posted on
Scholz has been something of a punching bag for his opponents across the political spectrum over Germany's faltering economy, but Musk's broadside prompted some of his main rivals to come to his defense, often with acidic comments about Musk.
“We normally hear that Elon Musk is a very talented wunderkind, but when I hear these comments, I have to doubt it,” said Alexander Throm of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, which is leading in opinion polls ahead of the February vote. public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Another Christian Democratic politician, lawmaker Dennis Radtke, called Musk's comments interference in the German elections. Speaking to the newspaper Handelsblatt, he called the comments “threatening, irritating and unacceptable.”
An unusual deal came from a prominent politician from what is considered the most left-wing party in Germany's political mix. “He's not really contributing anything in terms of policy,” Clara Buenger of the Left Party said of Musk.
“He doesn't really know how political debates work in Germany,” he said.
Scholz himself adhered, at least in part, to his typical low-key political style in responding to this episode. Without naming Musk, he noted that the German political system allows freedom of expression, which “also applies to billionaires.”
But the chancellor used harsher language than usual to challenge Musk's characterization of the AfD as a national savior. The freedom to speak, he said emphatically, “also means that you are allowed to say things that are not correct and that are not good political advice.”
Musk had also mocked the collapse of the ruling coalition, at one point tweeting in German that the chancellor was a “fool.” Scholz responded at the time that the comment “wasn't very friendly.”
The billionaire businessman turned efficiency expert has previously weighed in on the AfD, expressing his bewilderment at the widespread unease it is causing in Germany over echoes of the country's Nazi past.
The country has legal prohibitions on the use of Third Reich-style language and symbols, and there has been more than one case involving the prosecution of an AfD figure for violating those laws.
“They keep saying 'far right,' but the AfD policies I've read about don't sound extremist,” Musk posted in June. “Maybe I'm missing something.”
In the United States, Trump's elevation of Musk has provoked little opposition within his own Republican Party. In Europe, however, there is much more caution.
After British politician Farage was photographed this week posing with Musk at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, and Farage confirmed that a potentially huge donation from Musk to his party could be at stake ($100 million, according to the least one British report), some British lawmakers and transparency advocates urged measures to prevent an unprecedented injection of foreign money.
While Britain restricts the amount political parties can spend on elections, there is no limit on donations from within the UK. Musk could solve this with the British registration of the British branch of X.
“It is crucial that UK voters have confidence in the funding of our political system,” the chief executive of the British Electoral Commission, Vijay Rangarajan, told The Guardian newspaper. “The system needs strengthening.”
Musk has made clear his disdain for Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the left-wing Labor Party, and has often expressed criticism of British policies on immigration and policing.
Farage, for his part, cites Trump as a populist model and shares the president-elect's antipathy towards organizations such as the European Union. His reformist party won about 14% of the vote in the June election, its strongest result to date.
