"These judges must go": Elon Musk interferes in Italian politics

ntv.de "These judges must go": Elon Musk interferes in Italian politics 1 hour • 3 minutes reading time Elon Musk can't help it: In a new tweet, he calls for the dismissal of judges. They previously decided that Italy had to take in seven refugees. It is not his first foray into politics - and it does not change the outcome. Elon Musk recently met with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk is increasingly interfering in European politics following Donald Trump's election victory in the USA. After a new legal defeat for Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni regarding the accommodation of Mediterranean refugees in Albania, Musk demanded the replacement of the responsible judges. The confidant of the designated US President Donald Trump wrote on his platform X about the decision of a court in Rome that seven migrants interned in camps had to be brought to Italy: "These judges must go." Musk recently met with Meloni during the right-wing head of government's visit to the USA. The tech billionaire had previously criticized the new British Labour government. He said of Chancellor Olaf Scholz: "Olaf is a fool." He also insulted an Italian prosecutor who is demanding a six-year prison sentence for Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini in a trial about the treatment of migrants in the Mediterranean. "It is this crazy prosecutor who should go to prison for six years, that's crazy," wrote Musk. This is how Meloni wants to deal with refugees Meloni is facing the end of her big plans for deporting Mediterranean refugees outside the EU. Following a ruling by a court in Rome, Italy once again had to accept migrants from a specially built camp in Albania. Seven men from Bangladesh and Egypt who had been stopped while fleeing to Europe were taken across the Adriatic to the port city of Brindisi on a coast guard ship. The judiciary had previously ruled that the internment of migrants outside Italy was not legal. This represents another serious defeat for the plans of the right-wing coalition in Rome. Meloni came to power two years ago with the promise of massively curbing irregular migration across the Mediterranean. For the leader of the Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, the setback is even more serious than an initial ruling from last month. At that time, 16 men from the camp in Albania were already allowed to continue on to Italy. The judges have now also ignored a new decree with which the government had tried to save its plan. Meloni suffers another setback for the "Albania model" Apart from the 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, with estimated operating costs of more than 500 million euros, will even remain open over the next five years. All this is being closely followed in other European capitals: other governments are also considering moving asylum procedures to countries outside the EU. Britain's idea of ​​moving to Rwanda had already failed under the previous conservative government. Now the same thing could happen in Italy. The decision now lies with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. Before that, Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation, is expected to make a ruling in early December. The core issue is which countries are classified as so-called safe countries of origin in asylum procedures - and who decides on this. Does national law or European law apply? Meloni is of the opinion that drawing up lists of safe countries of origin is the sovereign task of her government - not the judiciary. The Italian courts have so far referred to a different ruling by the ECJ.