The extreme reactionary elite in Europe is eagerly awaiting the deregulation of trade and economic rules announced by Trump, as it will allow them to more easily implement their agenda.
"Ten years ago, if someone had told us that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new reactionary international and directly intervene in elections, including in Germany, who would have believed it?" That was exactly the question raised by the French President Emmanuel Macron on January 6, 2024, before the French ambassadors gathered in Paris for a New Year's cocktail and a presentation of France's political priorities in 2025. On January 6, Macron called not to enter into "a kind of deadly fascination with international reactionaries."
“They are very strong, they have money” and they now embody “a single thought.” “Our liberal democracies have not been effective enough in the face of the challenges of the middle class, that is true”, but that does not mean “that illiberal democracies or authoritarian regimes would be more effective,” the French President insisted at the time.
There is no doubt that all of us, at least in Europe, are asking ourselves the same question in the face of the onslaught of the extreme right in almost all EU countries. The only major country that is resisting this wave, for now, is Spain with its socialist prime minister, but the question is how long will Mr.Sanchez hold out in power in the face of the offensive of the Spanish right.
Musk
The first individual Mr. Macron is talking about is, of course, the American billionaire Elon Musk. We have long known that he is behind Tesla, SpaceX and a number of other companies. The man who bought Twitter and renamed it "X", today has the largest number of "followers", even more than Donald Trump, and is one of the richest people in the world. And soon he is going to be the minister of government efficiency in the new American administration.
Musk is trying to interfere in the European elections in every possible way. For now, the assumption is that he is doing this in the hope of introducing the far right to power.
On the X platform, the billionaire recently started attacking many European leaders, including the German Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, who is facing a tough election campaign and has little chance of winning the February elections.
Musk also turned to the British Labour leader Keir Starmer, over the crimes of men, mostly of Pakistani origin, who systematically lured and raped children in English cities for decades. In a series of posts on his platform X, the billionaire attacked senior members of the British Labour Party, saying that the prime minister Keir Starmer was “complicit in the mass rapes for the purpose of winning more votes.” Starmer was a prosecutor at the time and, although he was criticised for his initial failure to prosecute the perpetrators, he was never charged with any responsibility, while Nazir Afzal, who replaced Starmer, thanked him for his support in bringing paedophiles to justice. War of words also erupted between Starmer and Musk over the riots that rocked the UK last summer after three young girls were killed at a dance studio in Southport.
Musk openly supports far-right parties, such as the German Alternative for Germany (AfD). He also organized an interview with the leader of the German far-right party, which shows the growing influence of those who possess large fortunes on the global political stage. What is Elon Musk's goal? Is it economic in nature? Did Trump "allowed" these moves of Musk?
The world will soon find out, but it's not too hard to guess that Musk has a clear path to the new US president. One indicator of whether Trump is behind his minister will be the far-right conspiracy theory - about the Great replacement, promoted by Musk without any grounds – that warns of the "extinction of the white" and suggests that the white Americans are being deliberately replaced by immigrants. Such a theory has long existed in France, backed up by Eric Zemmour, who will be among the guests at Trump's inauguration.
Caecius Maximus
Musk called himself "Caecius Maximus" on the on X platform and that gives one element of the answer. The term "Caecius", rooted in far-right circles, reflects his appeal for globalized political influence, especially by supporting populist and reactionary ideas. And this is not just his standpoint. This particularly suggests that Musk is part of a strategy for global influence that is being implemented via fake news, interference in other countries' elections, populism and attacks on democracy.
In short, Macron is not always right, but this time he gave the correct definition – establishing of reactionary coalition against progressive ideas and social justice.
Meanwhile, there has been no reaction from the European Commission. For now, this is justified by the illness of the President of the Commission, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, who was hospitalized due to severe pneumonia. But her services could have already reacted to these events, with her green light. The EC spokespeople claim that von der Leyen, despite the illness, was able to carry out some of her duties.
For now, the EC's reaction is to buy new weapons or shale gas from the US and try to persuade Trump to abandon intentions towards the EU that are not liked by the EU.
Ban on X in the EU?
Many voices in the EU are calling for a ban on the X platform with the new EU regulations in this area, but this it is not on the agenda. There is no provision in the EC's Digital Service Act (DSA) that would allow for a ban on X. If the rules are violated, the EC can impose a fine of up to 6% of the platform's global turnover. To date, the EU has not requested such a fine for any platform.
Germany's Scholz, France's Macron and Spain's Sanchez warned Musk not to interfere, while Belgium's interim prime minister Alexander de Croy called on the EC to "take action" against X.
The EC's Digital Service Act requires platforms to reduce the bias in algorithms that recommend content to users. The central role of X and Musk in Donald Trump's presidential campaign last year raised questions about the neutrality of platforms' recommendation systems.
For Musk, the EU is a kind of enemy because it wants to regulate social networks and he sees a threat to his interests, both financially and politically.
For now, the EU is afraid to attack Musk's interests, especially since it does not know how long the Trump-Musk cooperation will last. On the other hand, the EU needs the protection of the United States against Russia and the X platform needs those 450 million European residents, so the EC's threat for punishing the platform (which used to be called Twitter) is not being taken seriously for now, despite Brussels continuing its investigation into X.
No one is amused in Brussels only Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Hungary's Viktor Orban maintain, of all EU leaders, cordial relations with Trump and Musk.
European social fracture
Not all the blame can be placed on Musk or Trump. Even governments in countries like Norway, whose elections are scheduled for September 8, 2025, could drift into more extreme waters. This means that in almost all EU member states there are long-standing cracks that the government has not repaired and that will allow for radicals to enter.
The soil that allowed for development of such, we can freely say, dangerous movements, is the deep economic and social fracture in the EU and beyond. The former French president Jacques Chirac warned, at the end of the 1990s, that the social fracture is deepening, but neither he nor his successors have done anything, or have done very little, to reduce it.
We are witnessing increasing crises that follow one another - financial, sanitary, economic, terrorist, migrant, identity... and all of them are exacerbated by globalization. These crises cause growing dissatisfaction even among the middle class, but especially a dissatisfaction that is directed at the elites. This is what nationalists and populists "stick" to, by proposing simple solutions to complex problems, meaning security, repressive and regressive solutions, a good part of which are directed against migrants. This new extreme elite in Europe is eagerly awaiting the deregulation of trade and economic rules announced by Trump because it will also allow them to more easily implement their program.
This climate fosters distrust in the democratic institutions. The rise of the far right, supported by reactionary billionaires, accelerates with each election cycle. Musk symbolizes this new economic elite that combines wealth and political power and undermines the foundations of democratic societies.
