‘Don’t Feed the Troll’: German Chancellor Responds to Elon Musk Comments

THE GUARDIAN: World’s richest man has been voicing support for Germany’s far-right AfD party while insulting its current leaders

When the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was asked in an interview about the barrage of insults being directed at him and other German leaders by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, his reply was: “Don’t feed the troll.”

Speaking to the German weekly Stern, Scholz described the criticisms as nothing new. “You have to stay cool,” he said in the interview. “As Social Democrats, we have long been used to the fact that there are rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics – and do not hide their opinions.”

He said he would make no efforts to engage with Musk, who has endorsed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in next month’s federal elections and will host a live discussion on his social media platform X with its candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel. “I don’t believe in courting Mr Musk’s favour. I’m happy to leave that to others,” he said. “The rule is: don’t feed the troll.” » | Ashifa Kassam | Sunday, January 5, 2025

Germany's Chancellor Merkel Urges EU Political Union
BBC: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the EU needs a political union even if it means some countries integrating faster than others.

Speaking on German TV, she called for "more Europe", including a budgetary union, saying "we need a political union first and foremost".

"Step by step we must from now on give up more competences to Europe, and allow Europe more powers of control."

However, she has resisted calls for the joint issuing of eurozone debt.

She will hold talks on Thursday with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who has urged the 17-nation eurozone to speed up measures to build a budgetary union to shore up the embattled monetary union.

Ms Merkel's insistence on economic austerity and budget discipline has alienated many Europeans who say the policy is strangling growth and piling more debts on the struggling "periphery" countries like Greece and Spain. » | Thursday, June 07, 2012

N-TV: "Wir brauchen eine politische Union" – Merkel will vorangehen: Bundeskanzlerin Merkel will mehr Macht an Brüssel abgeben - und zwar auch dann, wenn nicht alle EU-Staaten mitmachen. Wichtig ist ihr, dass die Euro-Staaten enger zusammenwachsen. Damit verschreibt sie sich einem Konzept, das lange als Tabu galt: Das Europa der zwei Geschwindigkeiten. Man dürfe nicht stehen bleiben, "weil der eine oder andere noch nicht mitgehen will." » | Quelle: n-tv.de, dpa/rts | Donnerstag, 07. Juni 2012

SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG: EU-Gipfel – Merkel will politische Union in Europa vorantreiben: "Mehr Europa": Angela Merkel will sich auf dem nächsten EU-Gipfel für eine Stärkung der politischen Union in Europa einsetzen. Gleichzeitig warnt die Kanzlerin aber vor allzu hohen Erwartungen - an einen "großen Wurf" glaubt sie selbst nicht. » | Donnerstag, 07. Juni 2012