Elon Musk criticizes Germany’s support for NGOs rescuing migrants

Elon Musk affirms his ideological positioning close to the extreme right. At the beginning of September, he threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL, which fights anti-Semitism and racism), which he accuses of defamation against his social network. On Saturday September 30, the American billionaire criticized Berlin’s support for NGOs rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

On Friday, on his social network X (formerly Twitter), the businessman shared a publication advocating an electoral victory for the far-right German party AfD. “Is the German public aware of this?”he wrote, sharing a post from an account called “RadioGenoa” denouncing rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean by NGOs supported by Berlin and concluding “let’s hope the AfD wins the elections”. Regional elections are due to take place on October 8 in Germany, Bavaria and Hesse, in the south and center of the country.

“Yes. And that’s what we call saving lives.”the German Foreign Ministry responded to the businessman on X.

“So you are proud of it actually. Interesting. Frankly, I doubt that a majority of the German public supports this. Have you done a poll? It is certainly a violation of Italy’s sovereignty that the ‘Germany is transporting a large number of illegal immigrants to Italian soil? This sounds like an invasion…”added the boss of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and SpaceX on the night of Friday to Saturday. “Illegal immigration must stop but I am completely in favor of a significant expansion and simplification of legal immigration”also wrote Elon Musk on X.

Important differences between Rome and Berlin

On Friday, the head of the Italian government Giorgia Meloni warned that her country no longer wanted to welcome migrants saved by foreign NGOs. Rome accuses Berlin of financing several relief NGOs in the Mediterranean, some of which operate under the German flag. Giorgia Meloni wrote to Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week to express her “astonishment” at these subsidies.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock defended on Thursday the role of NGOs which come to the aid of migrants trying to enter Europe via Italy. “Saving people from drowning at sea is a legal and European obligation”, she emphasized. Welcoming refugees has returned to the center of debate in Germany with the strong surge of the AfD, whose voting intentions are reaching records.