Provides electrical car and rocket charging stations: The investigation shows how much Elon Musk uses EU funds. German policy demands: "No EU money for EU enemies".
Companies controlled by the controversial technology entrepreneur Elona Muska usage EU funds of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to a letter from the European Commission to German MEP Daniel Freund (Greens), a subsidiary Tesla will receive almost EUR 159 million from the Connecting Europe financing programme for the construction of electrical car charging stations.
The American company SpaceX late issued an invoice of about $197 million (about €177 million) for launching satellites of the European satellite navigation strategy Galileo utilizing Falcon 9 launchers. In addition, according to a paper held by the German Press Agency, by October 2023 about EUR 630 000 was spent on paid advertising on Platform X. This is the answer to the parliamentary question asked by Green Freund.
In the light of these revelations, German politicians called for an immediate halt to payments to companies managed or controlled by billionaire Musk . "This man is simply a declared enemy of the EU and our fundamental values. It must not be that we proceed to pay hundreds of millions of subsidies to the richest man in the world," Freund criticises. "No EU money for EU enemies" must apply.
Musk is controversial in the EU, including his work for US president Donald Trump and his open support for AfD in Germany. Its company X is besides covered by respective proceedings relating to alleged infringements of EU digital service rules. They are utilized to check that the platform complies with rules aimed at reducing hatred speech and misinformation.
In a letter to Freund, the European Commission points out that no paid X services have been utilized since October 2023. With respect to the procurement of 2 launch rockets, each of which carries 2 Galileo satellites, she explained that these were exceptions due to delays in the launch of the Ariane 6 European carrier missile.
At the same time, it is unclear whether this list is actually complete. The letter besides mentions the publically available Financial Transparency strategy (FTS), adding that information on the financial year 2024 will not be published until June 2025.
