EU politicians warn against Elon Musk's incursions into European politics

PARIS -- Elon Musk has been a regular presence in Donald Trump's orbit since the November election, with the Tesla CEO advising the president-elect on multiple issues, from federal governmental efficiency to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War.

Now Musk's escalating criticism and mocking of European leaders and governments, which he has done repeatedly via X, the social media platform he owns, has sparked a backlash from European governments amid increasing calls for regulatory action in Europe against X.

In a speech on Wednesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made a clear reference to Musk's recent online attacks, many of which have been directed against the German leader Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

While Sanchez did not directly mention Musk by name, he said the international far right "openly attacks our institutions" and "stirs up hatred," adding that the movement was being "led in this case by the richest man on the planet," a reference to the Tesla and SpaceX boss.

Earlier on Wednesday, France's minister for Europe and foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, also spoke-out against Musk's online attacks and called on the European Union (EU), as the regulator on digital issues for EU nations, to take firmer action against Musk's use of his social platform, alleging that he was "interfering" in European countries' domestic politics.

Barrot, who is France's top diplomat, said Musk was intervening in European public debate either "to create a buzz, and then it's extremely regrettable," or to "assume new alliances with ultra-right-wing parties."

Musk sparked controversy in December when he wrote on X that "only the AfD can save Germany," referring to the Alternative for Germany, a far-right nationalist party that has grown in popularity in recent years in part due to its anti-immigration rhetoric.

Musk then fully endorsed the AfD in a German newspaper editorial. Days earlier, after a deadly Dec. 20 car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" and said he should immediately resign.

Musk's frequent interventions against Scholz come at a sensitive political moment in Germany, just weeks before voters are due to go to the polls in a general election next month.

This month, Musk turned the focus of his online attacks to British PM Starmer amid a highly sensitive and acrimonious domestic debate in the U.K. about historic cases of the sexual grooming of children by gangs of British men who were mainly of Pakistani descent while Starmer was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between 2008 and 2013. In a statement to the BBC, Starmer defended his record and claimed that he tackled prosecutions "head on" and made multiple reforms to aid sexual abuse victims.

On Monday, Musk posted on X that "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government." The Tesla CEO has also championed the cause of English far-right activist Tommy Robinson, calling for him to be freed after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for contempt of court after he repeatedly made false claims against a Syrian refugee.

In his Wednesday interview on French radio, French FM Barrot suggested that Musk's interventions in European nations' domestic politics were even more inappropriate because Musk is part of President-elect Trump's government-in-waiting.

"When you take part in a government or aspire to take part in one, your opinions have a rather special value," Barrot said.

In a speech Monday addressing French ambassadors on foreign policy topics, French President Emannuel Macron also expressed incredulity: "Ten years ago, who would have believed it, if we had been told that the owner of one of the biggest social networks in the world would support a new, international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany?"

In his German newspaper editorial published at the end of December, Musk argued that the idea that the AfD party is "far right extremist" is "false." Yet last year, on two separate occasions, a leading figure in the AfD, Björn Höcke, was found guilty by German regional courts of deliberately using Nazi slogans in public speeches, in violation of Germany's laws regarding hate speech. Höcke has denied knowing the roots of the phrases he used.

Despite that, the AfD's anti-immigration stance has won it support in Germany, and many polls there put it finishing in second place in next month's elections.

On Thursday, Musk's support for the AfD will once again be in the spotlight when X hosts the party's leader, Alice Weidel, in a livestream event. The EU's European Commission said it would monitor the livestream to ensure it complies with EU law and doesn't unfairly favor the AfD ahead of February's elections.

At a press conference on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, President-elect Donald Trump brushed off Musk's criticism of European politicians, saying in part "I know he said some negative things about a couple of people that are running for office, but it's not so unusual."

Trump also said that Musk was "doing a good job."