The richest man in the world, successful entrepreneur, advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump… and now commentator on political life in Europe? Billionaire Elon Musk is now trying to benefit from his growing political influence on the Old Continent, through multiple positions on the internal affairs of several countries. By using his account on the social network X, which he himself bought in 2022, he now has an important sounding board to propagate his ideas.
Support for far-right activist in the UK
At the start of 2025, the founder of Tesla and Space X has already published a series of messages on the platform about several current events in the United Kingdom. Thursday January 2, Elon Musk therefore attacked a court decision handed down at the end of October in the country against far-right activist Tommy Robinson. The latter, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for repeating defamatory remarks against a Syrian refugee, even though he had already been tried for such an attack. position.
“Free Tommy Robinson!”, launched Elon Musk to defend this activist, former member of the ultra-right movement of the English Defense League (EDL) and agitator last summer of community tensions across the Channel, notably during the major riots in many British cities. “Why is Tommy Robinson in solitary confinement for telling the truth?” the American billionaire said. The latter had already allowed the return to X of the activist, banned from Twitter in 2018 for repeated calls to hatred.
On the same day, Elon Musk also attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a more direct manner. Labor, who arrived at 10 Downing Street last summer, is regularly the target of criticism from the businessman. In recent hours, he has again considered that “a new election should be organized in the United Kingdom”, after having already relayed in the fall a massively signed petition requesting the holding of a new vote.
Elon Musk also accuses Keir Starmer of having misunderstood a vast case of sexual exploitation, while he was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the general services of the English and Welsh prosecution. 1,500 young girls were abused because of this system, organized in the north of England between 1997 and 2013. This affair is particularly highlighted by the British extreme right, in particular because the main instigators of this criminal organization were from Pakistani origin.
“In the UK, serious crimes like rape require approval from the prosecutor’s office before the police can charge suspects. Who was in charge of the CPS when gangs of rapists were able to exploit young girls without having to face justice? Keir Starmer”, pointed out Elon Musk. During last summer’s riots, he had already attacked the Prime Minister for his handling of the crisis, later calling the UK a tyrannical police state.
In December, he also met Nigel Farage, leader of the pro-Brexit Reform UK party, at Donald Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. A discussion during which the two men “talked about money”, according to the sulphurous British elected official. According to him, the granting of a significant financial donation from Elon Musk to fill the coffers of his movement is currently under negotiation.
Pro-AfD column in Germany
These new releases from Elon Musk come a few days after a statement on the politics of another European country: Germany. Saturday December 28, he published in the Sunday edition of the prestigious German daily Die Welt a platform of support for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the country’s main far-right party. Although attached to a counter-argument written by one of the newspaper’s editors-in-chief, the text created controversy across the Rhine. A journalist even resigned from the editorial office after this publication.
In his remarks, Elon Musk described the AfD as “the last glimmer of hope” for Germany, a nation according to him “on the brink of economic and cultural collapse”. A week earlier, he had already assured on X that “only the AfD” could “save Germany”, while early legislative elections are planned there in February. This movement has seen progress in the polls in recent weeks and is now credited with more than 20% of voting intentions.
Supporters of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz castigated the entrepreneur’s position, considering him responsible for interference in these elections. The leader himself denounced, during his New Year’s speech on Tuesday December 31, the role of Elon Musk in the electoral campaign: “You, the citizens, decide [du résultat du vote]. It’s not the owners of the social networks who decide.”
Proximity with Giorgia Meloni
If he attacks European governments with which he does not agree, Elon Musk also appears with leaders closer to his opinions. This is the case of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who came to power in Rome in 2022 under the label of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party. The American was notably seen a year ago at a conference organized by this movement, where he was able to detail his vision of immigration.
Favorable to the legal arrival of foreign workers, he reaffirmed on this occasion his fierce opposition to illegal immigration, which according to him it is necessary to “put an end to”. A statement in the vein of the migration policy led by Giorgia Meloni in recent months. His government intended to send some of the illegal immigrants present in Italy to a special center outside the European Union, in Albania – a procedure called into question by the Italian justice system.
Another subject of agreement between Elon Musk and Giorgia Meloni: the desire to revive the birth rate. “We need more Italians to save Italy’s culture,” said the businessman, worried about “the low birth rate” in the country. The Italian Prime Minister has made this issue one of the cornerstones of her program. During the debate on the budget for 2025 in the Italian Parliament, she proposed paying a birth bonus of 1000 euros to certain households.
Unlike these different European powers, Elon Musk, however, says little about French politics. Present at the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris in early December, the boss was also received face-to-face by Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée in the spring of 2023. The President of the Republic once again invited him to a summit dedicated to artificial intelligence planned in France next February. An invitation sent to Elon Musk as well as to all the “major entrepreneurs” specializing in this technology, the French leader said last November.