Germany’s AfD party has said European Union members should learn from Elon Musk’s efficiency cuts in the US to reduce red tape that prevents them from taking a tough stance on their borders.

Markus Walbrunn, an MP for the far-Right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), said that “sclerotic” measures enforced by the EU were stopping Germany from determining its stance on border security and taking tougher measures to combat illegal entry into the country.

The Bavarian MP told The Telegraph: “Not just Germany, but the entire European Union, which suffers from bureaucratic sclerosis, urgently needs a radical reduction in unnecessary regulations and laws.

“This, of course, also applies to the areas of asylum and migration. The repatriation of illegal immigrants on a large scale must finally be possible.”

When asked if the country should follow Musk’s Doge programme in the United States, he replied, “Absolutely.”

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an unofficial government department spearheaded by Elon Musk on behalf of US President Donald Trump tasked with leading cuts to government spending by cutting perceived inefficiencies.

According to polls ahead of the German elections on February 23, the AfD is on course to become the country’s main Opposition.

The party and its 46-year-old leader, Alice Weidel, have been endorsed by the owner of X, who says that “AfD is the only hope for Germany ” while highly critical of incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Musk also gave a speech at the AfD’s election launch party in the country’s east, an area of Germany where the party draws the majority of its support.

As with other far-right parties across Europe, the party is firmly opposed to illegal immigration and Islamist radicalisation.

Senior members of the party have been accused of playing down SS war crimes in the second world war whilst the party’s rallying call “Alice fur Deutschland” has been criticised for sounding too similar to the illegal Nazi motto “Alles fur Deutschland”.

The party is classed as a suspected terror organisation by German intelligence services, a charge they vehemently deny.

The Christian Democratic Union will likely come first in the country’s election. However, its leader, Friedrich Merz, has been criticised in the past for voting with the AfD on immigration legislation.

Both parties responded to a suspected terror attack in Munich yesterday by a failed Afghan asylum seeker with calls for a stricter stance on immigration.

Merz said: “We will consistently enforce law and order. Everyone must feel safe in our country again. Something must change in Germany.”