US billionaire Elon Musk drew criticism from German politicians from the federal government and opposition on Sunday for an opinion piece he wrote backing the right-wing Different for Germany (AfD) which they deemed “intrusive” exterior affect.
The assist of the AfD from Musk, who is ready to serve US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as an outdoor adviser, comes as Germans are set to vote on February 23 after a coalition authorities led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed.
The commentary printed in German in newspaper the Welt am Sonntag, flagship of the Axel Springer media group, expanded on a publish by Musk on social media platform X, higher often known as Twitter, final week during which he wrote “solely the AfD can save Germany” and praised the occasion’s strategy to regulation, taxes and market deregulation.
In response to the publication of his commentary, the editor of the newspaper’s opinion part mentioned on Twitter that she had resigned.
Friedrich Merz, chief of the opposition Christian Democrats and present favorite to succeed Scholz as chancellor, mentioned in an interview with the Funke Media Group: “I can’t recall a comparable case of interference, within the historical past of Western democracies, within the election marketing campaign of a pleasant nation.”
Merz described the commentary as “intrusive and pretentious”.
Saskia Esken, co-leader of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), vowed fierce resistance to makes an attempt by state actors in addition to the wealthy and influential to affect Germany’s elections.
“In Elon Musk’s world, democracy and employees’ rights are obstacles to extra revenue,” Esken informed Reuters. “We are saying fairly clearly: Our democracy is defensible and it can’t be purchased.”
Welt’s editor-in-chief designate defended the choice to publish the commentary, saying that democracy and journalism thrive on freedom of opinion, together with polarising positions.
The AfD is working second in opinion polls and may have the ability to thwart a centre-right or centre-left majority. Germany’s mainstream, extra centrist events have pledged to shun any assist from the AfD on the nationwide stage.
