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.
The Tesla chief executive and owner of the social media network X, formerly Twitter, held one of his young sons in his arms as he took the stage at Ms Meloni’s Atreju festival.
Addressing a packed audience gathered in Sant’Angelo Castle — once a prison and a fortress for popes — Mr Musk said “it’s important to have children and create the new generation. As simple as it sounds, if people do not have children there is no new generation”.
The billionaire warned of the dangers of “woke mind-virus,” a favourite talking point, and of unchecked migration. He also said that was “already seeing advertisers return” after recent controversy over extremist content. “I think X will be fine,” he said.
Mr Musk spoke amid a festive, Christmas market-like atmosphere, surrounded by fans of all ages who were also on hand to enjoy traditional Roman whipped cream maritozzi and pizza with porchetta, a spicy cured meat.
Even though Mr Musk has recently met with several world leaders, his participation at Saturday’s gathering marks a rare appearance for the tech billionaire at a political event hosted by a single party — in this case, the Brothers of Italy group.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Britain’s prime minister Rishi Sunak at the annual Atreju political festival organised by Ms Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party. Picture: Alessandra Tarantino/AP
“Immigration isn’t enough to combat population shrinking,” he said. “There is value in cultures, we don’t want Italy as a culture to disappear, we want to maintain a reasonable cultural identity of those countries or they won’t be those countries,” Mr Musk added. Italy’s birth rate hit a historical low last year.
Ms Meloni’s event dates back to 1998 and is named after a key character in the novel and film , reflecting the premier’s personal interest in fantasy literature.
Mr Musk took the stage after Albania’s premier Edi Rama and ahead of British prime minister Rishi Sunak, pointing to the rising stature of an event once attended mostly by juniour party officials. The high-level line-up is a win for Ms Meloni, just back from Brussels, where over a bottle of red wine she triangulated with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz to unblock Hungary’s veto over Ukraine’s accession process to the EU.
As the conference’s profile has risen recent editions have seen guests that included Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon, as well as left-wing speakers including former Italian premier Enrico Letta. Mr Musk’s appearance followed a conversation on diversity and civil rights with LGBT activist Paola Concia.
The billionaire’s visit reflects his interest in Italy and cordial relations with Ms Meloni, with whom he met privately for over an hour in June.
They share concerns about Italy’s demographic crisis and the risks of artificial intelligence. Mr Musk travelled to Italy as he cares about the future of the country and of Europe more broadly, according to people involved in his travel plans.
South African-born Mr Musk believes Europe is losing its cultural identity, with EU technocrats having a negative impact, according to people briefed on his thinking.
But there’s more to Mr Musk’s connection with Italy. Earlier this year, press reports suggested Mr Musk explored a possible fight against Meta Platform CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Rome’s Colosseum.
Mr Musk’s trip comes as he faces questions over the health of his businesses. Earlier this week, Tesla filed a recall report covering more than two million vehicles after the top US car-safety regulator determined its driver-assistance system Autopilot doesn’t do enough to prevent misuse.
Mr Musk is also under increasing pressure after X generated little more than $600m (€550m) in advertising revenue in each of the first three quarters of the year, compared to more than $1bn per quarter in 2022.
