American billionaire Elon Musk has subsidized the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as the European country prepares for elections in February.
The AfD is running second in opinion polls and would likely thwart a center-right or center-left majority. However, Germany’s main centrist parties have vowed to refuse to form a coalition with the AfD at the national level.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote on Friday in a post on his social media platform, X.
Europe’s largest economy will vote on February 23 after the collapse of a center-left coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Musk, who will join US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an advisor, has in the past spoken out against other far-right anti-immigration parties across Europe.
The German government said it had taken note of Musk’s message, but declined to make additional comments at its regular news conference.
Scholz told reporters at a press convention that freedom of opinion “also applies to billionaires” and “means you can say things that do and don’t imply intelligent political advice. “
Musk, the world’s richest person, previously voiced support for the AfD last year when he attacked the German government’s handling of undocumented immigration.
Last month, Musk called for the dismissal of Italian judges who had the legality of government measures aimed at preventing abnormal immigration.
German lawmakers from the primary parties reacted with outrage to Musk’s comment.
“It is threatening, frustrating and unacceptable that a key figure in the long-term US government is interfering in the German election campaign,” Dennis Radtke, an MEP from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, told the Handelsblatt newspaper.
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, Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic lawmaker, said Musk’s message was “totally 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.
Former Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party said he had been “inspired” by some of Musk’s concepts, but suggested the Tesla boss “rush to draw conclusions from a distance. “
“While migration is very important for Germany, the AfD is opposed to freedom and business, and is a far-right party,” said the politician.