This Monday evening in New York, “love was in the air”. Borrowed from Politicothe formula breathes the end of the 1970s. But this September 23 at the Atlantic Council gala, it was not John Paul Young who played the tune of his emblematic hit released in 1977, but rather the two stars of the evening: the president of the Italian Council and the boss of Tesla and Space X. Sitting side by side around a round table draped with a golden tablecloth, Giorgia Meloni and Elon Musk discuss, brainstorm, laugh, seem to pay no attention to the din around them.
So, the evening is already well underway when the fifty-year-old gets up, rushes to the podium and begins, moved, a speech. From the first seconds, the phrasing is rich in laudatory formulas. “Giorgia Meloni is someone I admire, and who has done an incredible job as Prime Minister of Italy,” says Elon Musk. And the billionaire in the bow tie reels off a series of qualities attributed to his table neighbor: “authentic”, “honest”, “conscientious” before mocking, with a smile on his lips, “which cannot be said of all politicians”. So the businessman gives a “prize” to this woman “who is even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside.”
The “prize” the world’s richest man is referring to is none other than the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award. A distinction awarded each year by the Atlantic Council – an influential think tank focused on international affairs and security – to an “exceptional” personality. Head of state, business leader, intellectual, philanthropist or any other individual who has demonstrated a commitment to promoting international cooperation and democratic values. The 2024 edition has four laureates: the Ghanaian president, the vice-president of the Korean CJ group, and the Greek and Italian prime ministers, both rewarded for their “essential role within NATO and the European Union”, according to the formula of theAtlantic Council.
A controversial duo
The fact remains that the tenant of the Palazzo Chigi is the only one to have received her award from Elon Musk, whom she portrays as a “precious genius”. An assumed bias, which did not fail to cause a stir both in Italy and in the United States. In Rome, some interpreted this one-night wedding as support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, very close to Elon Musk. Accusations dismissed out of hand by the Prime Minister’s entourage, who points out that her proposal was made well before Elon Musk endorsed the MAGA champion (Make America Great Again).
Across the Atlantic, the leader’s association from Brothers of Italy to the controversial X boss only served to heighten the controversy surrounding the presence of Giorgia Meloni among the honorees. “Many experts and insiders at the Atlantic Council are pro-Ukraine, and Musk has often appeared to take actions or make statements that have weakened kyiv in its fight against Russia, not to mention the fact that Musk has promoted disinformation,” Politico reports.. Several executives of the Washington-based think tank are said to have written a joint letter to their CEO to express their disappointment.
Ideological affinities…
However, it would be very naive to be surprised at the complicity of the duo, separated by only a few years. The leader of the Italian far right and the Tesla boss have known and appreciated each other for several months now. Their first meeting dates back to June 2023 in the Roman residence of the Prime Minister. A “moment of great cordiality”, Giorgia Meloni rejoiced at the end of the interview during which “crucial questions” were discussed. Among them, “innovation, the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence, the rules of the European market” and even… “the birth rate”.
A question that concerns the billionaire as much as the President of the Council. It must be said that in general, Giorgia Meloni and Elon Musk share a similar vision of society. In an interview given to our transalpine colleagues from The Republica Space X employee presented as their intermediary said that Elon Musk liked Giorgia Meloni because, like Donald Trump, “she defends Western values”. In the background, Christianity, heterosexuality and more broadly “the traditional family”.
In 2018, while a member of parliament, Giorgia Meloni had, for example, argued for making same-sex parent families unconstitutional. Furthermore, how many times has the Prime Minister choked on what she denounces as “a transgender dictatorship”. A formula that echoes Elon Musk’s positions on the issue. Let us recall that this summer the billionaire announced that he was moving the headquarters of Space X and X (formerly Twitter) to Texas in order to protest against a law adopted by California aimed at protecting the rights of transgender students. “A year ago, I made it clear to Governor Newsom that laws of this nature would force families and businesses to leave California to protect their children,” Elon Musk justified himself at the time.
…but also economic interests
However, it would be reductive to limit their relationship to their political and ideological affinities alone. Both are trying to be the face of pugnacity rather than that of immobility. Both are aware of the benefits they can draw from this proximity. On the one hand, Elon Musk understood that “Italy was a vast market with strong demand, but which had no local industry capable of satisfying it”, decipher our colleagues from Corriere della Sera, which point to the expansionist ambitions of the billionaire and his social network X in Italy. Furthermore, since the adoption of the space law by the deputies of Palazzo Montecitorio, Elon Musk has been eyeing Giorgia Meloni’s country with greater greed.
On the other hand, the Italian leader has always shown a strong desire to accelerate the modernization of the peninsula’s digital infrastructure. Even before being appointed head of the Italian Council, the leader of Fratelli d’Italia had organized a major conference on digital technology and telecommunications. A first for a transalpine political party. Last December, she invited Elon Musk to speak at her party’s big youth gathering, “Atreju”. An opportunity for the Tesla CEO to praise the benefits of artificial intelligence while warning of its dangers. And thus, to once again display a position aligned with that of the conservative leader. Here again, all that was missing was John Paul Young to whistle Love is in the air.