Italy is "a great democratic country", Mattarella stated, after Musk said "These judges need to go".

Italy's president Sergio Mattarella has rebuked Elon Musk for criticising Italian judges after a Rome court dealt a fresh blow to the government's migrant scheme in Albania.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, on Tuesday weighed in on the court ruling that blocked the Italian government's contested migrant repatriation plan, a flagship policy of right-wing premier Giorgia Meloni.

In a post on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk commented under an article about the court ruling, saying: "These judges need to go".

Italy's deputy premier Matteo Salvini, who criticised the ruling as "another political sentence", welcomed Musk's comment, writing: "Elon Musk is right".

Musk waded into the debate again on Wednesday, commenting under another post about the court ruling: "This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?"

Dichiarazione del Presidente della Repubblica Sergio #Mattarella: pic.twitter.com/sSynGoJX6t— Quirinale (@Quirinale) November 13, 2024

Italy's head of state on Wednesday issued a statement which, although it doesn't mention Musk by name, is clearly aimed at the tech tycoon who has been appointed by US President-elect Donald Trump to head a new government efficiency agency.

"Italy is a great democratic country and I must reiterate... that it knows how to take care of itself in compliance with its Constitution", the Italian president said, quoting a speech from October 2022.

“Anyone, particularly if, as announced, they are about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot assume the task of imparting prescriptions to it,” the statement said.

Photo credit: Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock.com.