Elon Musk rattles European politics

[Anchor]

The launch of Trump's second administration is also affecting the situation in Europe.

In particular, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and a key figure in the Trump administration, is shaking the political landscape by advising various political parties in Europe, raising concerns that he may bring a far-right domino effect.

Paris correspondent Ahn Da-young reports.

[Report]

Elon Musk stands in the front row at the presidential inauguration, ahead of the ministers.

He is now going beyond the United States and openly intervening in European politics.

Ahead of next month's elections in Germany, he openly supported the far-right party Alternative for Germany AfD during a live-streamed discussion on his social media platform 'X'.

[Elon Musk: "Only AfD can save Germany."]

He also bluntly criticized the current German Chancellor, calling him a fool.

[Olaf Scholz/German Chancellor: "It jeopardizes the democratic development of Europe and threatens our community."]

He has also reached out to the UK.

He has expressed his intention to make a large donation to the far-right Reform Party in the UK, lending them support.

While it may not be solely due to Musk's support, the recent approval rating for the Reform Party has risen by more than 10 percentage points compared to the general election last July, catching up to the ruling Labour Party.

The German far-right party AfD is also reaching its highest approval rating in a year, chasing the leading party.

[Andrew Chadwick/Professor at Loughborough University: "It's more about creating a political movement on X of the right that is international that feed back also into U.S. politics."]

Musk's actions are also interpreted as an attempt to pressure the UK and the European Union to strengthen regulations on big tech companies.

Mainstream politicians in Europe view Musk's interference as a provocative overreach, yet they find themselves in a dilemma where confronting him directly would only draw more attention to him.

This is Ahn Da-young from KBS News in Paris.