American billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday spoke out against the judges who decided to block the transfer of asylum seekers to an Albanian detention centre, showing his support for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s policy of regulating migratory flows.
“These judges must go,” he posted on his account on X, before adding: “Activist judges seem to be a major global problem.” Criticising the decision by Italian judges to overturn the transfer of migrants to Albania, against Meloni’s policy, he slammed the “unelected autocracy” for taking measures that go against the democratic choice of Italians.
The businessman’s comments were very received with hostility in Italy. Opponents of Meloni accused him of poisoning the situation and further straining relations between the government and the judiciary. Members of the Italian Judicial Council described his statements as “dangerous” and a “threat to democracy.” Even members of Meloni’s party have voiced their concern, such as Fabio Rampelli, who points out that Fratelli d’Italia’s objective remains to defend “the Italian nation by our own means”—by which he means without having to rely on external aid such as that provided by Musk.
The accusation of interference came from the highest levels of government. “Italy is capable of managing itself,” declared President Sergio Mattarella, who rarely speaks out. He, too, was upset by Musk’s statement, asking Musk to respect Italy’s “sovereignty.”
The sequence comes after a long series of friendly exchanges between Elon Musk and Giorgia Meloni in recent weeks, against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s rise to power and election as President of the United States.
Some Italian politicians are calling on Meloni to firmly condemn Musk’s comments and his interference in Italian politics.
“In whose name is Elon Musk speaking? His opinion carries little weight. But if he is speaking on behalf of President Trump, that would constitute serious interference, and we have the right to demand that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni take steps to defend the integrity of the Italian judicial system. A prolonged silence on this issue would be very worrying”, wrote Partito Democratico MEP Sandro Ruotolo on X.
On September 23rd, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was presented by Elon Musk in New York with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award, which recognises leaders who have made a significant contribution to strengthening transatlantic relations. The details of the reception had apparently been decided well in advance, even before Musk announced his support for Trump, but the event nonetheless aroused discontent in Italy and within the American organisation, given the signs of a ‘Trumpisation’ of Meloni through Elon Musk.
For his part, Musk was the guest of honour at the annual congress of Giorgia Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia. The return of the Republican candidate to the White House should strengthen relations within the Musk-Trump-Meloni trio. In an interview with Euractiv, the Secretary General of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Antonio Giordano said that Giorgia Meloni was considered to be Donald Trump’s “natural interlocutor” in Europe.
