The friendship between Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Elon Musk is the speak of Italy, and more and more so because the latter secured a key position within the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump.
The 2 first expressed their mutual admiration in an official image throughout Musk’s go to to the Italian prime minister’s official residence, Palazzo Chigi, in June 2023. Six months later, Musk was a particular visitor at Atreju, an occasion for younger members of Meloni’s get together, Brothers of Italy.
On the finish of October 2024, Musk was a visitor on the International Citizen Awards, hosted by the US thinktank, the Atlantic Council. There, apparently at her request, he was the one to current Meloni with an award she was being given for her contributions to the transatlantic relationship.
Quickly after Trump’s victory, Meloni stated on X (previously Twitter) that Musk had been in contact and that she sees the Trump presidency as a “helpful asset for each the US and Italy”.
And, most lately, Meloni, Trump and Musk had been pictured collectively at an occasion in Paris to mark the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral following the hearth there 5 years in the past.
An evaluation of Musk’s exercise on Twitter and X by the Economist exhibits that during the last two years, he has turn into more and more political in his messaging – significantly relating to posting about free speech and immigration. This goes some approach to explaining why he has turn into a significant political operative within the US and is now forging allegiances in Europe on the best of the political spectrum.
Musk is an enemy of open borders but has criticised the authorized immigration course of within the US for being “ridiculously gradual and tough”. Sarcastically, his personal immigrant standing within the US has been put beneath scrutiny. The Washington Publish reported that Musk labored within the US illegally in 1995 after quitting college. Musk, nonetheless, denies this.
Meloni has lengthy been robust on immigration. Not too long ago, her authorities reached an settlement with Albania to deport asylum seekers arriving in Italy to Italian-operated reception services in Albania. There, they are going to be processed and anybody failing of their request to enter Italy can be despatched again to their nation of origin.
The settlement, which successfully outsources Italy’s migration system to Albania, has been blocked by an Italian court docket. Musk reacted sharply to this on X by criticising the Italian judiciary and saying: “These judges have to go”.
However, he was thereby placing Meloni in a tough place. In an unusual present of displeasure, President Sergio Mattarella issued a strongly worded rebuttal to Musk’s intervention. He warned the tech billionaire to not intervene in his nation’s constitutional processes.
“Anybody, particularly if, as introduced, they’re about to tackle an essential authorities position in a pleasant and allied nation, should respect its sovereignty and can’t tackle the duty of issuing prescriptions,” stated Mattarella.
Anti-woke squad
One other shared stance between Musk and Meloni is their evident frustration with what they understand as woke conformism. Musk has claimed a “woke thoughts virus” is limiting free speech within the US. Meloni has additionally attacked the “woke ideology” that, she argues, is destroying the foundations of the pure household.
She ought to, nonetheless, be cautious of constructing an alliance with Musk on these phrases. He’s an entrepreneur and a disruptor, free to talk his thoughts with out restraint. She is a first-rate minister – a public servant to a democracy. She thereby operates inside far stricter institutional boundaries.
Potential enterprise offers additionally function a big unifying issue. It appears more and more doubtless that Musk’s Starlink will increase considerably into Italy. In October, the federal government confirmed it was testing Starlink satellites as a approach to increase web connectivity in areas of poor protection.
This improvement is creating ripples throughout the Italian telecommunications sector. If Musk begins successful contracts that may have in any other case gone to home corporations, this might pose a political problem for Meloni, who tends to take a nationalist stance on most issues.
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For Meloni, closeness to Musk is closeness to Trump. However there are dangers forward. Musk has a robust desire for deregulation and has been employed to chop prices in Trump’s authorities. These views are poorly aligned with the ideas of Meloni’s social nationalist get together.
She has safeguarded nationwide manufacturing by implementing insurance policies to guard what she phrases “made in Italy”. This contains incentives for corporations to maintain their manufacturing in Italy. Stricter commerce obstacles within the US would hurt Italian exports.
Meloni may intention to leverage her connections with Musk and Trump to safeguard Italian pursuits however this expectation could also be unrealistic. Commerce insurance policies would doubtless have an effect on all EU nations equally, and even when Italy had been to safe a extra beneficial deal, a good portion of Italian exports consists of intermediate items destined for different EU nations, which in the end promote to the US.
Nationalists typically find yourself having strained relationships as soon as the realities of workplace in a globalised world kick in – and Meloni and Musk could comply with a well-recognized sample from right here on. They may share mutual admiration, however their home priorities are sometimes too dominant to give attention to worldwide partnerships.
