German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called Elon Musk’s backing of right-wing parties in the European Union ”really disgusting”.
The tech mogul, who is a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has openly backed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is labelled as right-wing extremist by the country’s security services.
He has also called for Mr Scholz to resign, saying that AfD is the country’s only saviour.
When asked if he would raise issues about Mr Musk to the president, Mr Scholz said: “What is new is that he is intervening in favour of right-wing politicians all over Europe.
“And this is really disgusting, and it is not good for the democratic development in all the European Union.”
Last week Mr Musk made a surprise appearance at an AfD campaign event in the central city of Halle, during which he urged supporters to move beyond their “past guilt” – an apparent reference to Germany’s Nazi past.
Speaking via video link, the world’s richest man said: “Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents.
“There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.
“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”
Hitting back at the comments, Mr Scholz said he is “absolutely critical” of what Mr Musk said about the history of Germany, adding that his country has “historic responsibility”.
“Germany is thankful to the US for freeing it from Nazis and helping it to become a democracy again,” the German leader said, adding: “This is why I am so angry about Elon Musk intervening for the far-right.”
Mr Musk also came under fire over a hand gesture he made at Mr Trump’s inauguration, which some likened to a Nazi salute.
People took to social media platform X – which Mr Musk owns – to hit out at the tech mogul for placing his right hand on his chest and then putting his whole arm up in the air in front of him.
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Mr Musk later responded, writing on X: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
Germany is gearing up for next month’s snap election, after the collapse of the current three-party ruling coalition – consisting of the Mr Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Greens and the fiscally conservative Free Democratic Party (FDP).
The anti-immigration, anti-Islam AfD is currently polling second, according to nationwide surveys.