MADRID (AP) 鈥 Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez criticized Elon Musk on Wednesday as he joined European leaders who are are voicing concerns that the immensely wealthy backer of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is trying to influence politics across the Atlantic.
S谩nchez, a leading European socialist, told a public audience in a speech in Madrid that Musk was working against liberal and progressive values.
S谩nchez said during an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco that the international far right 鈥渙penly attacks our institutions, stirs up hatred.鈥 He said the movement was being 鈥渓ed in this case by the richest man on the planet,鈥 referring to Musk but not directly calling him by name. He also said the movement was backing a far-right party in Germany that he described as 鈥渋nheritors of Nazism.鈥
Via a steady stream of posts and re-posts on his own X social media platform, Musk has waded into European politics since backing and funding Trump's successful campaign in November. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has and called British an evil tyrant who should be in prison, among other moves.
Musk also touched on Spanish social affairs earlier this week when he retweeted a post of a Spanish newspaper report regarding an alleged increase in sexual offenders who were foreigners in Spain鈥檚 northeast Catalonia region around Barcelona. His only written comment was 鈥淲ow."
Catalonia鈥檚 regional president, Salvador Illa, a member of S谩nchez鈥檚 Socialist party, said in an apparent response to Musk鈥檚 post that 鈥渨e can鈥檛 allow ourselves to fall into the hands of a tech multi-millionaire aligned with the far right.鈥
Musk has shown a heightened interest in sexual abuse cases above all in England, saying Starmer failed to bring perpetrators to justice when he was England鈥檚 director of public prosecutions.
