Rome, Italy:

Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said on Thursday Elon Musk’s political interventions only caused outrage because he wasn’t left-wing — and that foreigners had been interfering in Italian politics for years.

Meloni, head of the post-Fascist Brothers of Italy party, said Musk was exercising his right to free speech. Instead, she accused powerful people on the left of political interference, including billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros.

Musk — a billionaire ally of US President-elect Donald Trump who is set for a role in the incoming administration — has provoked fury across Europe with a string of attacks on the continent’s leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Meloni rejected a suggestion that Musk’s comments on his X social network constituted “dangerous interference”.

“The problem is when wealthy people use their resources to finance parties, associations and political exponents all over the world to influence the political choices of nation states”, Meloni told reporters at a yearly press conference.

“That’s not what Musk is doing,” she insisted.

“Elon Musk financed an election campaign in his country, by his candidate, in a system in which, by the way, I would point out that this is quite common,” she said.

“But I am not aware of Elon Musk financing parties, associations or political exponents around the world.

“This, for example, is what George Soros does,” Meloni alleged.

“And yes, I consider that to be dangerous interference in the affairs of nation states and in their sovereignty,” she said.

Reviled by conservatives, and often the target of anti-Semitic conspiracies, Soros used wealth amassed as a financier in the 1970s and 80s to create the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which support a broad arrange of causes and NGOs worldwide, ranging from good-governance and democracy-building programmes to liberal public policy initiatives.

He has been a major donor during US elections but does not own a social media network or hold a position in government.

‘Not left-wing’

“Is the problem that Elon Musk is influential and rich or that he is not left-wing?” queried Meloni, who has described Musk as a “genius”.

She slammed “those who until yesterday described exponents of big finance — who often bet against nation states, who finance exponents of political associations — as fine, as philanthropy”.

Meloni said she had not taken any money from Musk, “unlike those who have taken it from Soros”.

She has denied media reports that her government is on the cusp of signing a giant, and controversial, cybersecurity deal with Musk’s company SpaceX.

Meloni said she refrained from commenting on other countries’ domestic politics herself but had herself repeatedly been the victim of attacks.

She compared “left-wing” outrage over Musk’s vocal support for the extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of elections there, with “left-wing” silence over what she said was “interference” by top German politicians in Italy’s 2022 general election.

Twice during the press conference Meloni referred to Musk as Donald Trump by mistake.

Musk’s political initiatives are intimately linked to his economic interests, experts suggest.

He is an enthusiastic supporter of Meloni — Italy’s most right-wing leader since 1945.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rome:

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday said that countries like India and China can play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

Giorgia Meloni’s remarks, made at the Ambrosetti Forum in northern Italy’s Cernobbio city on Saturday – where she also held a meeting with the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – came less than 48 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin also highlighted India’s efforts in solving the ongoing crisis in the region.

“It is obvious that if the rules of international law are broken we will get a multiplication of chaos and crisis, but it is also obvious that with the multiplication of crisis, we will have a natural fragmentation of the geo-economic space, that is, in the long run, economic globalization and questioning of the rules of international law will not walk together. This is what I also said to my Chinese counterparts, we must choose, because the two things do not go together, it is also the reason why I think that in the end nations, like China and India, can play a role and must play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine,” said Giorgia Meloni.

On Thursday, while addressing the 9th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin had also mentioned India’s role in providing a “helping hand” in resolving the issue.

“We respect our friends and partners who I think are sincerely interested in addressing and resolving all the issues associated with the conflict (with Ukraine). China, Brazil, India… I am in contact with my partners and I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries, and we have the relations of trust and confidence with one another, will be really interested in providing a helping hand,” said Vladimir Putin.

Giorgia Meloni’s comments came after her meeting with Zelensky met on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum on Saturday where the two leaders discussed the latest developments on the ground and Ukraine’s “most urgent needs” ahead of winter.

“The Head of State thanked for all the allocated military and technical assistance packages and emphasised the importance of transferring the relevant weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible,” said Zelensky’s office after the meeting.

It mentioned further that the Ukrainian President informed Giorgia Meloni about the situation on the battlefield, the recent shelling of the country’s civilian and critical infrastructure and spoke about current defence needs.

“The leaders discussed steps to implement the decision of the G7 to provide Ukraine with nearly USD 50 billion from frozen Russian assets,” Kyiv asserted.

It added that the restoration and reconstruction of Ukraine, in particular of its energy system, was one of the issues discussed during the meeting.

The Italian PM’s office stated that Giorgia Meloni reiterated that support for Ukraine is a top priority on the Italian G7 Presidency’s agenda and reaffirmed the ongoing commitment to Ukraine’s legitimate defence and to a just and lasting peace.

The two leaders, it said, paid particular attention to the issue of reconstruction, also ahead of the next Ukraine Recovery Conference which will be held in Italy in 2025.

Later, in her address at the 50th edition of The European House – Ambrosetti Forum at Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, Giorgia Meloni also highlighted the risks of destabilization for the geo-political and economic global space, and said she believed global actors such as China and India “will be able to play a role in resolving the conflict.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)