After criticism from NGO

Sea Watch is a “criminal organization” for Musk

The Sea-Watch 3

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump to head a newly created government efficiency agency, continues to cause a stir in Italy for his comments on migration. He described the German NGO Sea Watch as a "criminal organization".

On his platform X, the entrepreneur and Tesla boss responded to the NGO, which had claimed that he was threatening the Italian justice system. Previously, the South African had criticized the Italian judges who had suspended the detention of migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean.

Musk's terse reaction to the accusation by the NGO Sea Watch on X: 

Musk "These judges have to go," Musk commented on X on Tuesday on the decision by judges in Rome, who on Monday had again legally halted the placement of migrants from Italy in reception camps in Albania. The court in Rome referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). According to the judges' ruling, the Court should examine the compatibility of Italian legislation with European law.

Elon Musk

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Salvini supports Musk's statement
Lega Chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini reacted to Musk's statement in English: "Elon Musk is right". Salvini had previously denounced a "political judgment" that was not "against the government, but against the Italians and their security". The opposition parties accused Musk of interfering in Italy's internal affairs.

Following a decision by a court in Rome, Italy was once again forced to take in migrants from a specially built camp in Albania. Seven men from Bangladesh and Egypt, who had been stopped trying to flee to Europe, were brought to the port city of Brindisi on a navy ship. The judiciary had previously ruled that detaining the migrants outside Italy was not legal.

Asylum camps in Albania are empty
For the plans of the governing coalition in Rome, this means another serious defeat. For Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, 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. Apart from staff, the two new camps in the non-EU country of Albania 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.