Scholz concerned about Musk supporting far-right German party
Olaf Scholz (photo: Getty Images)
Germany will hold early parliamentary elections in February. Against this backdrop, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is concerned that billionaire Elon Musk is supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Scholz said in the interview for Stern.
Scholz said he was not embarrassed by Musk's attacks on him and other German politicians. He noted that social democrats have been used to the fact that there are wealthy media entrepreneurs who do not value social democratic politics, including those who do not keep their opinions to themselves.
The German Chancellor is much more concerned about the support of the American billionaire for the far-right AfD party.
“What worries me much more than such insults is that Musk is campaigning for an extreme right-wing party like the AfD, which preaches rapprochement with Putin's Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” Scholz said.
He also responded to several other statements by Musk. In particular, on his social network X, the billionaire called the German Chancellor a “fool” and the country's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier an “undemocratic tyrant.”
“The Federal President is not an anti-democratic tyrant, and Germany is a strong and stable democracy. Musk can say what he wants. In Germany, the will of the citizens is important, not the unstable statements of a US billionaire,” the German politician emphasized.
He also added that he would not invite Musk to a meeting in his office.
“I am not thinking about winning Mr. Musk's favor. I'm happy to leave that to others. There are a lot of people on social media who want to attract attention with flashy slogans. The rule is: don't feed the troll,” Scholz summarized.
As a reminder, the German government recently accused Elon Musk of attempting to interfere in the country's federal elections. In particular, German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said that Elon Musk has the right to freedom of speech, but questioned his conclusions. This refers to the support of the Alternative for Germany party.
Read more about this in RBC-Ukraine's article.
