“Italy’s Meloni Defends Musk’s Political Comments

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended Elon Musk’s increasing involvement in politics on Thursday, stating that she had never discussed a potential deal with him for providing secure communications to Italy.
She dismissed concerns about political interference, as the U.S. tech billionaire and ally of President-elect Donald Trump continues to increase his political comments on his social media platform X.
Meloni mentioned that Italy is facing a dilemma regarding how to protect its sensitive communications, as there are no alternative systems to Starlink currently backed by Italy or the EU.
The full deployment of the EU’s IRIS2 satellite constellation is not expected until the end of 2030.
Meloni remarked, “Either we negotiate with a private company, or we fail to protect this data. What is the preferable scenario between two suboptimal options?”