When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visits New York later this month to receive a global citizenship award, Elon Musk will be the one to hand her the prize.
The Tesla chief executive and X owner will present Meloni with the Atlantic Council¡¯s Global Citizen Award at a ceremony on Sept. 23, according to people familiar with the matter. Previous recipients include Ukraine¡¯s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In a post on the Atlantic Council¡¯s website in February, fellows Kaush Arha and Paolo Messa credited Meloni with being ¡°instrumental in ensuring much-needed European aid to Ukraine.¡± Since taking office, they added, ¡°the Italian leader has emerged as a powerful interlocutor across Europe and the world stage.¡±
Musk and Meloni have met on a number of occasions, including at a political festival last December thrown by the prime minister¡¯s rightwing Brothers of Italy party. Appearing on stage, Musk discussed Italy¡¯s demographic crisis ¡ª the country has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe ¡ª and exhorted the crowd to ¡°make more Italians.¡±
¡°As simple as it sounds, if people do not have children there is no new generation,¡± Musk told the audience, echoing a prominent concern of Meloni¡¯s. The billionaire also warned of the dangers of the ¡°woke mind virus¡± ¡ª a favorite talking point ¡ª and unchecked migration.
The Atlantic Council event won¡¯t be the only meeting this month between Meloni and the world¡¯s richest man. They¡¯re also scheduling a closed-door conversation to discuss investment opportunities in Italy¡¯s space and artificial intelligence sectors, the people said.
Italy approved a new regulatory framework in June that grants foreign space companies permission to operate in the country, according to a statement by the minister of industry. Italy expects to generate €7.3 billion ($8.1 billion) of investment in the space sector by 2026.
Musk, who¡¯s also CEO of Space Exploration Technologies, already has a head start. Italy is among the countries serviced by Starlink, which delivers broadband Internet through a global network of more than 6,000 SpaceX satellites.
Last April, Starlink claimed that Telecom Italia SpA, the country¡¯s largest telecom provider, was obstructing the rollout of its high-speed internet services.
Representatives for SpaceX declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Italian government.
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