Angela
Merkel expresses ‘huge concern’ at Elon Musk’s US government role
Former
German chancellor says politics should govern the social balance between
powerful and ordinary citizens
Deborah Cole
in Berlin
Fri 22 Nov
2024 17.31 GMT
Angela
Merkel, who in her new memoir raises fears for the western democratic order
with Donald Trump as US president, has also expressed deep concerns about the
outsized role to be played in Trump’s administration by Elon Musk.
The former
German chancellor, who during Trump’s first term was given by some observers
the designation of “leader of the free world” usually reserved for US
presidents, said 16 years in power had taught her that business and political
interests must be kept in fine balance.
Asked by Der
Spiegel magazine in an interview whether the challenge posed by Trump had grown
since he was first elected in 2016, Merkel responded: “There is now a visible
alliance between him with the big companies from Silicon Valley which have
enormous power through capital.”
Musk, who is
advising Trump on his second term, has been tasked by the president-elect with
leading a newly created department of government efficiency along with Vivek
Ramaswamy. Merkel said the SpaceX and Tesla chief’s financial entanglements
made such an appointment highly problematic.
“If a person
like him is the owner of 60% of all satellites orbiting in space, then that
must be a huge concern for us along with the political issues,” she said.
“Politics must determine the social balance between the powerful and ordinary
citizens.”
She noted
that in the 2007-08 financial crisis during her first term as German
chancellor, “the political sphere was the final authority that could straighten
things out” with measures such as bailouts coupled with new regulations.
“And if this
final authority is too strongly influenced by companies, whether through
capital power or technological capabilities, then this is an unprecedented
challenge for us all,” said Merkel, whose 700-plus-page tome will be released
on Tuesday.
She said one
of the benchmarks setting free societies apart was clear checks on corporate
power and the sway of the ultra-rich. “In a democracy, politics is never
powerless against companies,” she said.
Of social
media platforms such as Musk’s X, Merkel said: “It is important to
counterbalance the furore in social media, such as that stirred up by the AfD
in this country,” referring to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party,
which is now placing second in opinion polls before a 23 February snap
election.
Merkel
acknowledged that she had supported Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris in their
ultimately unsuccessful presidential bids against Trump and said their defeats
had filled her with sadness.
In extracts
from the memoir published in the German weekly Die Zeit, she says Trump as
president approached relations with longstanding allies as aggressively
transactional, “like the real estate developer he was before he entered
politics”.
She found
him to be particularly fascinated by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and
“politicians with autocratic and dictatorial traits”. Merkel has faced strong
criticism since leaving office that she failed to establish clear red lines
with Putin and made Germany far too reliant on Russian gas.
Musk, the
world’s richest man, campaigned hard for Trump and is helping manage his
transition back to the White House, including weighing in on appointments,
sitting in on telephone calls with world leaders such as Ukraine’s Volodymyr
Zelenskyy and discussing cutting a third of the $6.75tn federal budget.
Musk’s corporate holdings have reportedly received $15bn in
public contracts, a figure expected to rise during Trump’s tenure.
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