Germany warns against 'meddling' after Vance comments

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany on February 14, 2025. Tobias Schwarz, AFP

Germany warned Friday against foreign "meddling" in its politics after US Vice-President JD Vance reportedly called for a bigger role for Europe's anti-immigration parties, nine days before the German general election.

In an interview to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Vance said that "unfortunately, the will of voters has been ignored by a lot of our European friends" on the issue of migration and urged governments not to exclude anti-immigration parties.

The comments come amidst a German election campaign which has been dominated by immigration and security.

There have been several high-profile attacks blamed on asylum seekers and migrants, prompting the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to further intensify its anti-migrant campaigns.

Most recently, an Afghan asylum seeker is suspected of ramming a car into a crowd in Munich on Thursday, leaving 36 people injured.

At a press conference on Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said outsiders should not be "meddling in the internal affairs of a friendly country" and that they "may not have a full overview of the political debate" in Germany.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) looks set for its best ever result of around 20 percent in the election on February 23, according to current polling.

The party has received enthusiastic backing from Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a key ally of US President Donald Trump.

Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right CDU party, caused outrage last month by bringing a resolution to parliament demanding tougher measures against irregular migration and allowing it to be passed with AfD votes.

Merz insists he would not govern with the AfD or actively seek its support but his opponents have accused him of breaching the long-standing "firewall" against extremism among Germany's mainstream parties.

Vance also told the Wall Street Journal that the threat to European democracy from online disinformation -- including narratives pushed by Russia -- had been overstated.

"If your democratic society can be taken down by $200,000 of social media ads, then you should think seriously about how strong your grip on or how strong your understanding of the will of the people actually is," he said.

However Hebestreit insisted that disinformation was something that had to be "closely observed".

"And when it goes against our laws, then we will act," he said.

He added: "We here in Germany have a stricter approach to free speech than in the US, on account of our historical experience."

He gave as an example Nazi ideology which, he said, "can be freely expressed there but which would be strictly forbidden here".