How Elon Musk ended up at Giorgia Meloni's right-wing weekend bash in Italy

Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk took to the stage between Albania’s premier Edi Rama and British prime minister Rishi Sunak

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter (now rebranded as X) making a heart shape during the Atreju conference organised by the right-of-centre Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party in Rome. Picture: Andreas Solaro/AFP

When Giorgia Meloni first staged an annual political festival, her top guests were colleagues from her small, far-right party. On Saturday, star billing went to Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.

A shrinking population poses a major risk to Italy’s workforce that can’t be addressed solely through immigration, Mr Musk said in central Rome, adding that countries including Italy must maintain their cultural identities. Fears about climate change are “somewhat overblown” in the short term, he added.