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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has defended her friendship with billionaire Elon Musk. During her address in a parliamentary session ahead of this week's European Union summit in Brussels, Ms Meloni insisted that he has independence and will not be influenced in areas where Mr Musk's sprawling economic empire has interests.
"I can be a friend of Elon Musk and at the same time the head of the first Italian government that made a new law to regulate private activity in space," Ms Meloni said, adding that she had "good relationships "with many people" but "I don't take orders from anyone."
Ms Meloni, whose far-right coalition took power in 2022, has held frequent meetings with Mr Musk, aiming to attract investments into Italy's economy. The Italian government has also made strides in fostering a space sector, approving a framework earlier this year that paves the way for foreign space companies, like Musk's SpaceX, to operate within Italy.
This framework could generate an estimated $7.3 billion in investments by 2026. Ms Meloni said past Italian prime ministers "who thought they had a good relationship, even a friendship, with a foreign leader, they had to slavishly follow what the others did."
A photo of Ms Meloni and Mr Musk at an event in September had gone viral, prompting social media users to ask if the two were "dating". At the New York event, Mr Musk also praised Meloni, calling her "authentic, honest and truthful".