Elon Musk courts EU leaders as Twitter’s future hangs in the balance
On Thursday, Elon Musk strode into the Palazzo Chigi in central Rome for a visit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Wine, hugs and small talk were exchanged over the course of several long meetings, but the billionaire refrained from making any promises – or letting any details slip about where he's likely to locate Tesla Inc.'s next European factory.
Musk then traveled to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron – their second rendezvous in just over a month. With billions at stake in potential investment, EU leaders are jockeying to win over the world's richest man. France and Italy aren't his only suitors: Tesla is also reportedly in talks about a factory in Spain.
While his meetings with leaders from across the political spectrum have focused largely on Tesla, another Musk company has loomed large in the background: Twitter, whose collapsing moderation standards have endangered its future in Europe.
This charm offensive also comes as Musk's sole factory on the continent, outside Berlin, has been ramping up more slowly than anticipated due to pushback from environmental groups and Germany's copious red tape. These complications have led some to speculate that he's shopping around for a more favorable site for his next local plant. While it's unlikely he needs one for Tesla's existing product lines, the company is working on a next generation of lower-cost electric vehicles.
Musk's top-level meetings haven't always gone smoothly. In Italy, between discussions about artificial intelligence and the automotive sector, the father of 10 voiced concerns to Meloni about the country's low birthrate. In France, talk of a prospective battery factory has been shadowed by controversy over Twitter. Just three weeks
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