BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday said US tech billionaire Elon Musk is threatening European democracy with his attacks on political leaders and support for the far right.
“He supports the far right across Europe — in the UK, Germany and many other countries. This is something that is completely unacceptable, that endangers the democratic development of Europe,” Scholz said.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Musk, who used his influence and vast wealth to help propel Donald Trump to victory in the White House race, has also been vocal in his support for Germany’s far-right AfD before snap elections in Germany on February 23.
Musk earlier this month hosted Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate to be the German chancellor, for a wide-ranging livestream on his X social media platform.
He also boosted the livestream of an AfD congress by sharing it on his own X account, helping it gain a worldwide audience.
Dozens of EU lawmakers this week expressed “deep concern” over Musk’s interference in European politics in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Scholz on Friday said he was not criticizing the fact that “a billionaire from another country is speaking his mind in a global world.”
But “his partisanship for the extreme right, whether out of business interests or for reasons that have something to do with his own political stance, that is unacceptable,” Scholz said.
Musk backing for European far right ‘endangers democracy’: Scholz
https://arab.news/rbwwh
Musk backing for European far right ‘endangers democracy’: Scholz
- The world’s richest man has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders
- Musk used his influence and vast wealth to help propel Donald Trump to victory in the White House race
Merz says Germany exploring shared nuclear umbrella with European allies
- Germany is currently banned from developing a nuclear weapon
- Britain and France are the only European powers which have a nuclear arsenal
BERLIN: European nations are starting to discuss ideas around a shared nuclear umbrella to complement existing security arrangements with the US, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, amid growing talk in Germany of developing its own nuclear defenses.
Merz, speaking at a time of increased transatlantic tensions as US President Donald Trump upends traditional alliances, said the talks were only at an initial stage and no decision was imminent.
“We know that we have to reach a number of strategic and military policy decisions, but at the moment, the time is not ripe,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Germany is currently banned from developing a nuclear weapon of its own under the so-called Four Plus Two agreement that opened the way for the country’s reunification in 1990 as well as under a landmark nuclear non-proliferation treaty that Germany signed in 1969.
Merz said Germany’s treaty obligations did not prevent it from discussing joint solutions with partners, including Britain and France, the only European powers which have a nuclear arsenal.
“These talks are taking place. They are also not in conflict with nuclear-sharing with the United States of America,” he said.
European nations have long relied heavily on the United States, including its large nuclear arsenal, for their defense but have been increasing military spending, partly in response to sharp criticism from the Trump administration.
Trump has rattled Washington’s European allies with his talk of acquiring Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, and his threat, later rescinded, to impose tariffs on countries that stood in his way.
He has also suggested in the past that the US would not help protect countries that failed to spend enough on their own defense.
Merz’s comments were echoed by the head of the parliamentary defense committee, Thomas Roewekamp, who said Germany had the technical capacity which could be used in developing a European nuclear weapon.
“We do not have missiles or warheads, but we do have a significant technological advantage that we could contribute to a joint European initiative,” Roewekamp, from Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union party, told Germany’s Welt TV.
