'Mini-Musks' channel tech titan in EU Parliament

by Adrien DE CALAN

Fidias Panayiotou, a Cypriot YouTuber-turned-lawmaker who snatched his 15 minutes of fame by hugging Elon Musk, is doubtless the tech titan's biggest fan in the European Parliament -- but far from the only one.

Lawmakers across the EU spectrum have voiced outrage at Musk's stance towards the bloc -- from his incendiary backing for the German far right, to his outbursts over alleged censorship by Brussels regulators.

The X owner and Donald Trump ally is the unspoken target of a headline parliament debate next week on enforcing EU rules to "protect democracy on social media" against "foreign interference".

But at the same time dozens of EU lawmakers, most but not all from the hard right, are cheering on the billionaire even as he trains his fire on Brussels.

Among his fans are a handful of "mini-Musks", as one insider dubs them: anti-establishment lawmakers prone to racking up followers, and stirring controversy, on social media.

The hoodie-wearing prankster Panayiotou made a name online by collecting hugs with celebrities, including one with Musk -- snagged after spending months camped outside his offices in Texas.

"I agree with him on free speech 100 percent," the 24-year-old told AFP, though he said he finds the SpaceX and Tesla boss to be "sometimes aggressive" in his stances.

Panayiotou readily admits to having no political experience prior to being elected last June -- and has resorted to asking his 2.7 million YouTube followers which way to vote, in between videos upbraiding Brussels bureaucrats, 80 percent of whom he would "fire".

Another Musk cheerleader, the controversial Spanish YouTuber Alvise Perez, cuts a "more aggressive" figure in the chamber according to one parliament official, who asked not to be named.

- 'The rot has set in' -

Perez -- who heads a new faction called "Se Acabo la Fiesta" (SALF), Spanish for "The Party's Over" -- declined to respond to an AFP request for comment.

A social media provocateur, he routinely rails against the Spanish government, vaccines or immigration -- and has reposted Musk's inflammatory attacks on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Influencers aside, Musk has found a sympathetic audience in the ranks of the parliament's three hard-right groups: the ECR, the Patriots and the Sovereignists.

EU hard-right groups made a joint push last autumn for Musk to be awarded the bloc's top rights Sakharov prize as a champion of "free speech".

But an official of France's National Rally, which is part of the Patriots group, downplayed the message of support -- voiced before Musk backed Trump's bid to reclaim the White House.

"That was before Donald Trump's election," they said. "And Musk had not yet intervened in national politics" in Germany.

In Patriot ranks, support for the Musk-Trump tandem varies from country to country, the official said -- with the Hungarians, Dutch and Austrians the most enthusiastic.

France's RN by contrast is "under no illusions" about the intentions of the new US administration, the official said.

"We may like their positions against immigration and wokeness," they said, but beyond that "we know it will be America First and they won't hesitate to trample on Europe to defend American interests."

That said, the Patriots came together this month to ask Parliament President Roberta Metsola to take a public stance on Britain's "grooming gangs" scandal -- which Musk has seized on to attack Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor.

"They are amplifying Elon Musk's harassment of Keir Starmer," charged French socialist lawmaker Chloe Ridel.

"There is a fascination for Musk around the idea of the self-made success story," said Ridel, who believes that when it comes to Musk-style antics "the rot has set in" in the European Parliament.

Among the European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes Italian leader Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, admiration for the SpaceX boss is widespread.

Meloni herself boasts of her "excellent relations" with Musk, whom she has described as "a genius" -- dismissing complaints he is meddling with European politics as left-wing bias.

Echoing the accusations made by Musk and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg against EU regulators, a group of right-wing lawmakers have requested a parliamentary investigation into "social media censorship".

And an open letter gathering support among right-wing groups calls for Musk to be invited to address the EU parliament.

But why stop there: the Slovenian Branko Grims, a maverick member of the centre-right European People's Party, has set his sights higher by nominating Musk and his efforts to uphold "freedom of speech" for the Nobel Peace Prize.

© Agence France-Presse