"Judges must go"

Musk gets involved in Italy’s migration policy

Elon Musk sides with Giorgia Meloni's government and criticizes Italy's judiciary. In the picture above you can see one of the two currently empty camps in Albania.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AP, Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Anna Moneymaker)

Following Donald Trump's election victory, Tesla founder Elon Musk is now increasingly interfering in European politics. He called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz a "fool" after the collapse of the traffic light government in Berlin (see video above). Now the US billionaire is lashing out at the Italian judiciary, which is opposing the migration plans of head of government Giorgia Meloni.

By order of a court in Rome, Italy was once again forced to take in migrants from a specially built camp in Albania, where their asylum applications were to be decided . Seven men from Bangladesh and Egypt were brought to the port city of Brindisi on a coast guard ship. The judiciary had previously ruled that internment outside Italy was not legal. For the Italian Prime Minister, the setback is even more serious than an initial ruling last month. At that time, 16 men from the camp in Albania were allowed to continue their journey to Italy. The judges have now also overruled a new decree with which the government had tried to save its project.

One of the two currently empty camps in Albania

(Bild: AP/Vlasov Sulaj)

Camps in Albania are now empty
Apart from staff, the two new camps in the non-EU country on the other side of the Adriatic are now completely empty again. It is unclear whether the expensive facilities - estimated operating costs until 2029: more than 500 million euros - will remain open at all. Other European capitals are following all of this closely: Other governments are also considering transferring asylum procedures to countries outside the EU. Under the previous Conservative government, the UK had already failed with the idea of relocating to Rwanda. Now things could turn out similarly in Italy.

The dispute has developed into a fierce argument between the government and the judiciary. From within the right-wing three-party coalition, the judiciary - once highly regarded in Italy for its fight against the mafia and corruption - is being accused of being a stooge of the left-wing opposition. Meloni is now also receiving support from tech entrepreneur Musk. Musk wrote on his platform X: "These judges must go." The billionaire and the head of government are close friends. Musk had previously been upset about a public prosecutor who had demanded a prison sentence of several years for Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in a trial concerning the treatment of migrants. "It's this crazy prosecutor who should go to jail for six years, that's crazy," Musk raged.

Musk's influence on the US government could grow enormously
The world's wealthiest person is firmly on the political positions of the American right and has supported Donald Trump's election campaign in recent months. With his return to the White House, Musk is likely to gain more influence over the American government. Trump has held out the prospect of entrusting the 53-year-old with reducing US government spending. This means that two companies run by Musk - the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the space company SpaceX - could benefit from US government spending in the future.