STRASBOURG — The far-right political group in the European Parliament nominated tech billionaire Elon Musk for the EU’s top human rights award.
The Identity and Democracy (ID) grouping, which includes members of European Parliament tied to France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, put Musk’s name forward, according to a document sent to MEPs on September 14 and seen by POLITICO. An ID official confirmed to POLITICO its decision to nominate Musk.
ID cited Musk’s decision to release the so-called Twitter Files, which consisted of selected internal documents over how the social media platform handled requests to remove political posts. This amounts to a defense of the principle of freedom of expression, ID argued.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought includes a €50,000 prize. Last year, it was awarded to the Ukrainian people. Past laureates include Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and Kofi Annan.
Musk is highly unlikely to receive the accolade as the President of the Parliament Roberta Metsola and the leaders of all political groups will select the winner together later this year.
The three largest groups — the center-right EPP, center-left S&D and liberal Renew — have all agreed to propose Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman whose death at the hands of police sparked a movement for women’s rights across Iran.
The Greens have nominated Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, while the right-wing ECR group put forward Nino Lomjaria, a public defender in Georgia who stood up to Russian interference. The Left proposed three women’s rights activists.
