The German government has sought to downplay efforts by US tech entrepreneur Elon Musk to get involved in the country’s general election campaign by again endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Mr Musk caused uproar over the weekend after backing the AfD in an opinion piece in a major newspaper, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor in protest.
“Freedom of expression also includes the greatest nonsense,” government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said, adding that she would not comment further on Mr Musk’s statements.
She did, however, say that “it is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election through his statement”.
In that context, Ms Hoffmann also pointed out that the AfD is being monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and that it has already been recognised as such in some individual German states.
Germany is to vote in an early election on February 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed last month in a dispute over how to revitalise the country’s stagnant economy.
Mr Musk’s guest opinion piece for Welt am Sonntag, published in German over the weekend, was the second time this month he had supported AfD.
“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Mr Musk wrote in his translated commentary.
He went on to say the far-right party “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality”.
The Tesla Motors chief executive also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition.
The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party.
An ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, the technology billionaire challenged in his opinion piece the party’s public image.
Mr Musk’s commentary has led to a debate in German media over the boundaries of free speech, with the paper’s own opinion editor announcing her resignation, pointedly on Mr Musk’s social media platform, X.
“I always enjoyed leading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print,” Eva Marie Kogel wrote.
The newspaper was attacked by politicians and other media for offering Mr Musk, a foreigner, a platform.
Mr Musk’s opinion piece was accompanied by a critical article by the future editor-in-chief of the Welt group, Jan Philipp Burgard, who wrote that while some of Mr Musk’s diagnoses of Germany’s problems may be correct “his therapeutic approach, that only the AfD can save Germany, is fatally wrong”.
