President Sergio Mattarella responded to Elon Musk’s comments on Italian court rulings that have stymied the government’s plans to process some asylum-seekers in Albania: “Italy is a great democratic country and… knows how to take care of itself while respecting its Constitution”.

The controversy came after Elon Musk commented in “Ex” the decision by judges in Rome to block for the second time an agreement between Italy and Albania to transfer to centres on Albanian territory asylum seekers originating from so-called safe countries and intercepted by Italian authorities in international waters. On Monday, judges from the tribunal in Rome appealed to European justice in connection with transferring a second group of migrants to the centres in Albania. The judges want their European colleagues to rule on whether such a transfer of migrants does not contravene European law. According to this decision, the migrants will be moved from Albania to Italy.

Representatives of Meloni’s ruling described the Italian judges’ decision as political. In “X,” Elon Musk, whom Donald Trump nominated to head a new administration efficiency department, commented on the Rome judges’ decision. He called for their removal from office, which gave rise to criticism from the left and Italian judicial organisations that Musk was interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and thus putting Italy’s sovereignty at risk.

President Sergio Mattarella responded to Elon Musk,  who has a top advisory role in Donald Trump’s new administration, and wrote Tuesday on X that “these judges need to go.” He referred to the latest Italian court ruling against Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Albania immigration deal.

“This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy, or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?” he wrote in a subsequent post on Wednesday. The posts concerned a Rome court’s refusal to rule on a formal request to detain seven migrants rescued at sea and transferred to Albania for processing. Monday’s ruling resulted in the men being brought to Italy for processing.

Mattarella didn’t cite Musk by name, but he referred to him. Italy’s head of state demanded respect for the country’s sovereignty, especially from other soon-to-be public officials.

“Italy is a great democratic country and… knows how to take care of itself while respecting its Constitution,” Mattarella said in a statement issued by his spokesman.

“Anyone, particularly if as announced is about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot attribute to himself the task of imparting prescriptions,” the statement said.

Trump announced Tuesday that Musk, one of the most influential people around the U.S. president-elect, would help lead a Department of Government Efficiency, essentially an independent advisory panel to eliminate waste and fraud.

X: “His right to freedom of expression”

Later Wednesday, an Italian representative of X, Andrea Stroppa, tweeted what appeared to be a statement from Musk that said he had spoken during the day with Meloni. According to Stroppa’s tweet, Musk “expresses his respect” for Mattarella and the Italian Constitution but insists on his right to freedom of expression. Musk’s spokesman sent this statement to Italy’s ANSA agency after the conversation between Musk and Meloni. According to the Italian edition “Republika,” during Meloni’s phone call with Musk, she told him not to cause trouble for her.

Again yesterday, Meloni’s office said that she always respected Mattarella’s opinion. Meloni’s deputy chief of staff, Giovanbattista Fazzolari, said Mattarella was right and noted that any interference must always be rejected, no matter where it comes from.

Matteo Salvini: “Musk is right”

Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Transport-Infrastructure, and the far-right League Party leader known for its anti-immigration stance, also quoted Musk’s post on the X platform and said, “Musk is right.”

Salvini also reminded that when he was the Minister of Internal Affairs in 2019, a 6-year prison sentence was requested against him in the case where he was tried on charges of “detaining people” and “abuse of power” because the Spanish non-governmental organisation (NGO) Open Arms did not allow the immigrants it rescued in the Mediterranean to land for days. “I may be sentenced to 6 years in prison on December 20 for preventing illegal immigrants from landing when I was Minister of Internal Affairs. When viewed from abroad, all this looks even more incredible,” he commented.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani supported Mattarella’s position.

Elon Musk: Italian borders will remain open

This new comment from the tech mogul was a response to Musk’s “Ex” on another post, which said, “Giorgia Meloni’s government in Italy will not be allowed to deport illegal aliens judging by the judges’ opinion against her decision.

The same post that sparked Musk’s comment yesterday also said, “Italian borders will remain open, and the New Europeans will be allowed to flood Italy and Europe forever”.

Musk also retweeted a post on “X” of far-right Dutch commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek, who says that Musk and Meloni are right and President Mattarella is wrong about the controversy caused by Musk’s intervention in the Roman judges’ decision.

“The fact that the judges of the Roman court believe that they are above the government and the democratic processes is madness,” says Eva Vlaardingerbroek. “They are not a Constitutional Court, so they exceed their jurisdiction by violating the separation of powers,” added the Dutch commentator, whose post-Musk reposted.

Italian courts referred the cases to the EU Court of Justice

Italian courts referred the cases to the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg to determine whether the migrants’ countries of origin are considered safe for repatriation. There is no word on when the European court might rule.

Due to the Rome court decisions, no migrant has yet been processed in the Albanian centres, which are budgeted to cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years to build and operate.

Italy’s opposition says the money could be much better spent on reinforcing Italian-operated migrant processing centres, while human rights groups say the outsourcing of asylum processing contravenes international law.

The centres opened in October after a months-long delay because crumbling soil at one of the facilities needed to be repaired. Italy runs them under the country’s jurisdiction, while Albanian guards provide external security.