German Chancellor Takes Not-So-Subtle Jab At Elon Musk In New Year’s Address | EUROtoday

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk on Tuesday, utilizing his New Year’s handle to criticize the tech billionaire’s involvement within the European nation’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

In prerecorded remarks from Berlin, Scholz took purpose at Musk’s makes an attempt to affect the end result of the election with out mentioning the X (previously Twitter) proprietor by identify.

“Where Germany goes from here will be decided by you — the citizens,” Scholz stated of the Feb. 23 elections, which have been referred to as after the chancellor misplaced a confidence vote earlier this month, collapsing his governing coalition. “It will not be decided by the owners of social media channels.”

“In our debates, one can be forgiven for sometimes thinking the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner,” Scholz continued. “But it won’t be the person who yells loudest who will decide where Germany goes from here. Rather, that will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.”

Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and an in depth adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany get together in an opinion piece printed in Welt am Sonntag, a serious German newspaper, over the weekend.

“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his column, which was printed in German. “[AfD] can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.”

Musk, who claims he has an curiosity in German politics due to his “significant investments” within the nation, drew widespread condemnation for wading into the election and even prompted Welt am Sonntag’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, to resign.

On Monday, the German authorities explicitly accused Musk of attempting to sway the election.

“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann advised reporters throughout a briefing.

She added that Musk is free to talk his thoughts.

“After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense,” she stated.