マスク氏が「憎悪扇動」　スペイン首相、ファシズム復活に警鐘

【マドリードＡＦＰ＝時事】スペインのペドロ・サンチェス首相は８日、ドナルド・トランプ次期米大統領の盟友でＸ（旧ツイッター）の所有者でもあるイーロン・マスク氏が「欧州の制度を公然と攻撃」し、「憎悪をかき立てている」ため、ファシズムが復活する恐れがあると警鐘を鳴らした。（写真は、スペイン・マドリードにあるソフィア王妃芸術センターで、「自由のスペイン」と銘打った公式記念行事で開会の辞を述べるペドロ・サンチェス首相）
　トランプ政権で「政府効率化省」のトップに就くマスク氏は、ドイツのオラフ・ショルツ首相や英国のキア・スターマー首相をはじめとする欧州の指導者への攻撃を繰り返し、欧州各国で反感を買っている。
　サンチェス氏は、マドリードにあるソフィア王妃芸術センターで開催された同国の独裁者フランシスコ・フランコ総統の死後５０年を記念する公式行事冒頭の演説で、マスク氏が「国際的な反動的運動」を率いて「われわれの制度を公然と攻撃し、憎悪をかき立て、ドイツで予定されている総選挙でナチズムの後継者への支持を公然と呼び掛けている」と非難した。ソフィア王妃芸術センターには、スペインの巨匠パブロ・ピカソが手掛けた最も有名な反フランコ作品の一つ「ゲルニカ」が所蔵されている。
　サンチェス氏は「これらすべてが問題・挑戦であり、民主主義を信奉するわれわれ全員に対する挑戦だ」と主張。
　「独裁政権は地球の裏側まで進出している」と述べ、欧州各地で極右が台頭していることに言及し、「われわれが乗り越えたと思っていたファシズムが、今や欧州で第３の政治勢力となっている」と続けた。
　マスク氏はドイツで２月２３日に実施される総選挙を前に、同国の極右政党「ドイツのための選択肢（ＡｆＤ）」を強く支持。今月９日にはＸで、ＡｆＤのアリス・ワイデル共同代表との対談を主催する。
　また、スターマー氏には退陣と、英国で最も有名な極右活動家の一人、トミー・ロビンソン受刑者の釈放を要求している。
　フランスのジャンノエル・バロ外相は８日、ラジオ局フランス・アンテルに対し、欧州連合（ＥＵ）欧州委員会はマスク氏による政治討論での干渉から加盟国を「毅然とした態度で」守るよう求め、「私たちは目を覚まさなければならない」と訴えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/01/09-17:02）

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned Wednesday that fascism could return as X owner Elon Musk, an ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, openly attacks our institutions and stirs up hatred.
Musk, who is set for a role in Trump's administration, has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent's leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
During a speech for the start of official commemorations on the 50th anniversary of dictator Francisco Franco's death, Sanchez accused Musk of heading an international reactionary movement that openly attacks our institutions, stirs up hatred and openly calls for the support of the heirs of Nazism in Germany's upcoming elections.
All this is a problem, a challenge, a challenge that should challenge all of us who believe in democracy, the Socialist premier added at the event at Madrid's Reina Sofia art museum, home to Pablo Picasso's Guernica painting, one of the most famous anti-Franco works.
Autocratic regimes are advancing halfway around the world, Sanchez said, warning that the fascism we thought we had left behind is now the third political force in Europe, a reference to far-right parties that have gained ground across the continent.
Musk has offered strong support to the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of snap elections in the country on February 23, and will host a discussion on X with the party's leader Alice Weidel on Thursday.
The billionaire has also called for Starmer to be removed and urged the release from jail of Tommy Robinson, one of Britain's most prominent far-right agitators.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot earlier on Wednesday urged the European Commission to protect its member states with the greatest firmness against interference in political debate by Musk, telling France Inter radio: We have to wake up.
- Opportunistic ploy? -
Sanchez has announced around 100 events in schools, universities, museums and the streets this year to showcase the great transformation achieved in the half-century since Spain initiated its democratic transition following Franco's death in November 1975.
The general overthrew a democratic republic in a brutal civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and ruled with an iron fist with the backing of fascist forces from 1939 until his death from natural causes aged 82.
Spain's main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) believes the initiative is an opportunistic ploy by the minority leftist government to distract attention from its political and legal woes.
Corruption investigations are ongoing against Sanchez's wife and political allies, while the Socialists have to negotiate painstakingly with an array of fringe and separatist parties to pass legislation.
But the Socialists have retorted by pointing to the origins of the PP, born in 1989 as the successor to the Popular Alliance, founded in 1976 by a former Franco minister.
- 'Dark years' -
Sanchez recalled the ironclad censorship that existed during the Franco dictatorship and other restrictions such as a ban on divorce and limits on the use of the regional Basque and Catalan languages.
You don't have to be of a particular ideology, left, centre or right, to look with sadness, with great sadness and also with terror, at the dark years of Franco's regime and fear that this regression will be repeated, he said.
Forgetting the mistakes of the past is the first step towards repeating them again, he added.
Neither King Felipe VI nor PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo attended the event. Feijoo instead visited towns in the eastern region of Valencia that were ravaged by recent floods that killed over 200 people.
Sanchez, with Franco. Feijoo, with the people of Valencia, the PP said in a statement.