Italian President Sergio Mattarella has harshly reprimanded Elon Musk for commenting on the decisions of the Italian court that has hindered the government's plans to send some asylum seekers to Albania.
Musk, who is expected to have a senior advisory role in Donald Trump's new US administration, wrote on X that "the judges need to go".
He was referring to the recent decision of the Italian court against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's agreement with Albania for the shelter of illegal immigrants.
In a follow-up post on Wednesday, Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?"
Monday's decision was the second judicial setback for Meloni's much-talked-about plan to transfer asylum seekers to Albania.
Mattarella did not quote Musk by name but, in an unusually strong statement, made it clear on Wednesday that he was referring to him.
The Italian head of state demanded respect for Italy's sovereignty, especially from other public officials of friendly countries.
"Italy is a great democratic country and ... knows how to take care of itself by respecting its Constitution," Mattarella said in a statement released by his spokesman.
"Anyone, especially if he is reportedly ready to take on an important government role in a friendly and ally country, must respect his sovereignty and cannot ascribe to himself the task of giving prescriptions," the Italian president said.