THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor’s New Year’s Eve address follows Elon Musk’s endorsement of German far-right party AfD on X
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has urged voters not to let the “owners of social media channels” decide next year’s snap election, after Elon Musk repeatedly endorsed the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
In a New Year’s Eve address recorded for television and made available before its broadcast on Tuesday, Scholz said German citizens alone had the power to decide “where Germany goes from here” after the general election on 23 February.
“It will not be decided by the owners of social media channels,” Scholz said of the country’s future.
“In our debates, one can be forgiven for sometimes thinking the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner.” Rather, Scholz said, the fate of German society “will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people”. » | Deborah Cole in Berlin | Tuesday December 31, 2024
