The chief executive of Tesla Elon
Musk presented Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni with the 'Global
Citizen Award 2024 from Washington-based think tank Atlantic
Council, praising her as "someone who is even more beautiful
inside than outside".
Musk said Meloni had done "an incredible job" as prime minister
with "record growth and employment".
"She is someone who is authentic, honest, truthful", added the
billionaire during a ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in
Manhattan, New York, on Monday night.
And thanking Musk for his "precious genius", Meloni delivered a
passionate defence of Western values.
"There is a narrative that authoritarian regimes take good care"
of their citizens, she said.
"It concerns the idea of the inevitable decline of the West, the
idea that democracies don't succeed in keeping promises.
"An army of foreign and malign trolls and bots is deployed to
manipulate reality and exploit our contradictions.
"But fans of authoritarian regimes, let me tell you very clearly
that we will defend our values", Meloni said, receiving the
award.
While rejecting authoritarian nationalism, Meloni said that "we
should not be afraid to defend words like nation and patriotism"
and noted that her vision was "democratic and secular".
"In a time dominated by chaos, Italy stands firmly alongside
those who defend their freedom and sovereignty, not only for it
is right to do so, but also because it is in the interest of
Italy and the West to prevent a future in which the law of the
strongest prevails", she noted, evoking Ukraine.
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