Elon Musk with his statements on X regarding foreign affairs is not a threat to democracy, while the American financier and philanthropist of Hungarian origin, George Soros, is the one who interferes in the politics of other countries, said the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni on Thursday at a closing conference in Rome.

"Is the problem [with Musk] that he's rich and influential, or that he's not a leftist?" she asked reporters.

"Interference exists in other cases where wealthy people use resources to finance parties and associations around the world to influence policy, such as the case of Soros."

"I don't get money from Musk, on the contrary, others got it from Soros. I don't see any threat to democracy," she said.

When asked about her comments on Musk's support for Alternative for Germany and criticism of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats, Meloni replied: "I want to recall the German intervention in the Italian campaign."

"We have to put everything back in its place," she said.

"Musk expresses his position and this is the discussion we are having," she added.

"You may like it or not, but when they tell me that there is a threat of intervention, I point out that this is not the first case of famous and rich people expressing their opinions," said Meloni.

"I have seen several cases and often against me, but no one has bothered. The problem is when these people use the resources to finance parties and associations around the world to influence politics, something that I do not see that Musk is doing, unlike Soros", he said no.

"I consider this a dangerous intervention. But when it happened, people talked about philanthropists: is the problem that [Musk] is rich and influential, or that he's not a leftist?" she said.

Meloni and Musk - owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X, are friends./ANSA.