EU funds Musk's companies despite controversial views

Published: 2025-05-14 04:01:13 ET TSLA

Published on 05/14/2025 at 04:01

Key takeaways

Elon Musk 's companies have received hundreds of millions of euros in EU funding despite his controversial views and support for groups considered hostile to the EU.

A parliamentary investigation by Green MEP Daniel Freund revealed that a Tesla subsidiary received nearly 159 million euros from the Connecting Europe program to build electric vehicle charging stations. In addition, SpaceX, another company controlled by Musk, billed about 177 million euros for launching satellites for the Galileo navigation system using its Falcon 9 rockets.

Freund criticized EU financial support for Musk's companies, saying it is unacceptable to fund "the richest man in the world" while he openly opposes EU values. He called for an immediate halt to all payments to entities controlled by Musk, stressing that "no EU money should go to enemies of the EU."

Musk's controversial record stems from his support for U.S. President Donald Trump and his backing of the far-right AfD party in Germany. His platform X is also facing multiple investigations for possible violations of EU regulations on digital services, including concerns about its handling of hate speech and misinformation.

While acknowledging payments to Musk's companies, the European Commission stressed that no paid services have been taken from X since October 2023. The use of SpaceX rockets to launch Galileo satellites was justified as an exception due to delays in the deployment of the Ariane 6 rocket.

However, questions remain about the completeness of the disclosed funding information. It referred to the publicly available financial transparency system and noted that data for fiscal year 2024 will not be released until June 2025.

If you want access to all articles, enjoy our promo temporarily and subscribe here!