Merkel's would-be successor seeks sprinkling of Musk's star power

Weeks before Germany goes to the polls, Armin Laschet is trying to burnish his credentials with forward-thinking voters by meeting Elon Musk and visiting Tesla's new factory rising from a sandy plot near Berlin.

The yet-to-be finished facility will serve as the backdrop for a wavering campaign to be Germany's next chancellor in need of a much-needed boost.

Laschet has been falling in the polls, creating an opening for his two main rivals, the Green Party's Annalena Baerbock and Social Democrat Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.

Musk has opportunities to seize, as well. Tesla's first plant in Europe, where electric cars are quickly catching on, has been delayed by regulatory issues and has fallen months behind schedule.

A personal encounter with Musk could help rub some of the charismatic company leader's star power on Laschet, 60, who occupies the more no-nonsense end of the political spectrum. It's the Greens who have long dominated the narrative of how to chart a path into a future of electric cars, vegan food and solar energy.

"I am glad that Elon Musk has just texted me and that we have agreed to see each other tomorrow," Laschet said Thursday, according to German news agency DPA. "This of course also underlines the common desire to make such an investment possible also in other fields in the future. To do this, you have to talk to each other."

For Musk, a meeting with Laschet provides a chance to build a rapport with the man who at this point still looks most likely to succeed Angela Merkel at the helm of Europe’s largest economy.

While Laschet's rivals have been catching up, his Christian Democratic Union remains the most popular party with a 23 percent backing, followed by the Greens at 20 percent and the SPD at 19 percent, according to a recent poll by the Forsa institute.

One of Laschet's main campaign promises has been to cut through the red tape that has long bedeviled ambitious projects like Tesla's. Whether he can come through for the company or not, Musk’s more than 59 million Twitter followers will be watching.

Musk's frequent trips to Berlin have been followed relentlessly on social media. A Twitter account dedicated to tracking the movement of his private jet picked up on his presence in the German capital before CDU officials were aware of his plans to be part of Laschet's welcome party.

Although still the German election front-runner, Laschet is under pressure to regain the initiative after a rocky several weeks hit the conservative bloc's support.

There are indications, however, that the unpredictable billionaire Musk is not necessarily in town to ruffle feathers.

Joerg Steinbach, the economy minister for the state of Brandenburg where Tesla is constructing its plant, tweeted Wednesday night he had a "very relaxed evening meeting" with Musk. "In an atmosphere of mutual trust we discussed the remaining tasks," Steinbach wrote.

Cooler heads have apparently prevailed after the minister confided to the New York Times recently that he was frustrated with being thrust into the position of Tesla's mouthpiece in the face of public criticism of the factory's environmental impact and other issues.

Pivotal project

The gigafactory project in the small town of Gruenheide is key for Tesla, underpinning its European expansion plans just as Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW broaden their EV lineups. For Germany, the plant promises new jobs in a region that lost most of its heavy industry during World War II.

Under pressure for being slow to pick up on the electric-car shift, Merkel's government extended a welcoming hand to Musk, promising the CEO whatever assistance is needed to get the facility up and running.

But progress has been less smooth than hoped, with Tesla facing lawsuits from environmental groups concerned about water use and wildlife disrupting construction. Earlier this year, the company bemoaned Germany’s "irritating" approval process for the site, urging the government to remove bureaucratic hurdles to speed up projects that help fight climate change.

"We all experience how difficult it is at the moment, also how many protests there are," Laschet said, according to DPA. "But such a decision, if it had passed Brandenburg by, would have been a loss for decades."