Italy's Giorgia Meloni speaks on her friendship with Musk, says 'Don't take orders from anyone'

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Melonion Wednesday (Dec 18) took a defensive stance on her friendship with billionaire Elon Musk and informed Italian lawmakers it will not influence her in areas in which the latter has economic interests.

“I can be a friend of Elon Musk and at the same time the head of the first Italian government that made a new law to regulate private activity in space,’’ said Meloni, while replying to questions in a customary parliamentary discussion held before the European Union summit scheduled for this week in Brussels.

Meloni took a jibe at her predecessors and said that previous Italian leaders “who thought they had a good relationship, even a friendship, with a foreign leader, they had to slavishly follow what the others did.”

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She said that she shared good relationships “with many people” but “I don’t take orders from anyone and you should be happy about this."

Meloni and Musk's friendship

Meloni was frequently seen with Tesla and SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk after coming to power in 2022.

This year, Meloni’s government approved a framework which paved the way for foreign space companies to operate in the country. It is expected that this will generate $7.7 billion in investments by 2026.

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Amid this, the friendship between Meloni and Musk also garnered a lot of attention. Musk refuted reports of having any kind of romantic relationship with Meloni after a photo of them looking at each other went viral last September.

The two also attended a black-tie event in New York where Meloni was presented an award by Musk.

A year ago, Musk was also seen at an event organised for the ruling party's youth members in Italy.

(With inputs from agencies)