General
Italy’s President Rebukes Musk for Chiming In on Immigration Debate
Sergio Mattarella said Italy “can take care” of itself after Elon Musk criticized Italian judges who did not approve a government request to hold a group of migrants in Albania.
In an unusual move, Italy’s president sharply rebuked Elon Musk for weighing in on Italy’s immigration debate in a series of posts on Mr. Musk’s X platform.
In one of a flurry of posts, Mr. Musk wrote on Tuesday, “These judges need to go.” He was referring to the Roman judges who on Monday put on hold the government’s request to place a group of migrants in Albania as part of a new plan to outsource asylum requests to the Balkan country.
In a related post on Wednesday, Mr. Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?”
On Wednesday, Mr. Musk’s posts prompted a sharp reaction by Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, who said in a statement that Italy “can take care of herself.” He added, “Anyone, especially if, as announced, they are about to assume an important government role in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot assume the task of imparting prescriptions.”
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest person who since Donald J. Trump’s election as the U.S. president has also become America’s most powerful private citizen, has a history of weighing in on other country’s domestic matters, and has posted in favor of Italy’s anti-immigration policies. (On Tuesday, Mr. Trump named Mr. Musk to help lead a body “to dismantle government bureaucracy.”)
