Spanish PM says Musk ‘stirs up hatred’, warns against fascism

By AFP
January 8, 2025


Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced around 100 events this year to mark the half-century since Spain initiated its democratic transition following Francisco Franco's death in 1975 - Copyright AFP/File ANGELA WEISS

Alfons LUNA

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned Wednesday that fascism could return as X owner Elon Musk, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, “openly attacks our institutions” and “stirs up hatred”.

Musk, who is set for a role in Trump’s administration, has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

During a speech for the start of official commemorations on the 50th anniversary of dictator Francisco Franco’s death, Sanchez accused Musk of heading an “international reactionary” movement that “openly attacks our institutions, stirs up hatred and openly calls for the support of the heirs of Nazism in Germany’s upcoming elections”.

“All this is a problem, a challenge, a challenge that should challenge all of us who believe in democracy,” the Socialist premier added at the event at Madrid’s Reina Sofia art museum, home to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” painting, one of the most famous anti-Franco works.

“Autocratic regimes are advancing halfway around the world,” Sanchez said, warning that “the fascism we thought we had left behind is now the third political force in Europe”, a reference to far-right parties that have gained ground across the continent.

Musk has offered strong support to the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of snap elections in the country on February 23, and will host a discussion on X with the party’s leader Alice Weidel on Thursday.

The billionaire has also called for Starmer to be removed and urged the release from jail of Tommy Robinson, one of Britain’s most prominent far-right agitators.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier on Wednesday urged the European Commission to protect its member states with “the greatest firmness” against interference in political debate by Musk, telling France Inter radio: “We have to wake up.”

– Opportunistic ploy? –

Sanchez has announced around 100 events in schools, universities, museums and the streets this year to “showcase the great transformation achieved” in the half-century since Spain initiated its democratic transition following Franco’s death in November 1975.

The general overthrew a democratic republic in a brutal civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and ruled with an iron fist with the backing of fascist forces from 1939 until his death from natural causes aged 82.

Spain’s main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) believes the initiative is an opportunistic ploy by the minority leftist government to distract attention from its political and legal woes.

Corruption investigations are ongoing against Sanchez’s wife and political allies, while the Socialists have to negotiate painstakingly with an array of fringe and separatist parties to pass legislation.

But the Socialists have retorted by pointing to the origins of the PP, born in 1989 as the successor to the Popular Alliance, founded in 1976 by a former Franco minister.

– ‘Dark years’ –

Sanchez recalled the “ironclad censorship” that existed during the Franco dictatorship and other restrictions such as a ban on divorce and limits on the use of the regional Basque and Catalan languages.

“You don’t have to be of a particular ideology, left, centre or right, to look with sadness, with great sadness and also with terror, at the dark years of Franco’s regime and fear that this regression will be repeated,” he said.

“Forgetting the mistakes of the past is the first step towards repeating them again,” he added.

Neither King Felipe VI nor PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo attended the event. Feijoo instead visited towns in the eastern region of Valencia that were ravaged by recent floods that killed over 200 people.

“Sanchez, with Franco. Feijoo, with the people of Valencia,” the PP said in a statement.


France urges European Commission to be firm against Musk interference


By AFP
January 8, 2025


Elon Musk has provoked anger in Germany over his comments on the country's politics - Copyright POOL/AFP Christophe PETIT TESSON

France on Wednesday urged the European Commission to protect its member states with “the greatest firmness” against interference in political debate particularly from the billionaire owner of social media platform X, Elon Musk.

“Either the European Commission applies with the greatest firmness the laws that we have given ourselves to protect our public space, or it does not do so and then it will have to agree to give back the capacity to do so to the EU member states,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio.

“We have to wake up,” he said.

Asked whether X could be banned in Europe, Barrot replied that such a mechanism to close a platform “is laid out in our laws.”

Musk, who has secured unprecedented influence thanks to his proximity to US president-elect Donald Trump, is set for a role in Trump’s administration.

He has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.


French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot urged the European Commission to protect its member states against interference from the billionaire owner of social media platform X, Elon Musk – Copyright AFP JAM STA ROSA

“When you take part in a government or aspire to take part in one, your opinions have a rather special value,” said Barrot.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Musk of intervening in elections, including Germany’s snap legislative polls next month.

“Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany,” Macron said in a speech to French ambassadors.