ROME — A retired Italian general formally unveiled his new far-right political party on Sunday, directly challenging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hold on power as he pushes for a more extreme nationalist agenda ahead of next year’s elections.
General Roberto Vannacci, a 57-year-old former paratrooper, was introduced to the crowd as a modern-day Julius Caesar when he stepped onto the stage at the founding congress of Futuro Nazionale. Supporters greeted him with repeated chants of “Generale, Generale, Generale.”
“We represent the rejects and the dregs, and are proud of it,” Vannacci declared. He left Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s League party four months ago and is now positioning himself to the right of Meloni’s conservative coalition.
Futuro Nazionale is already drawing about 5% in polls, putting it in striking distance of the League and potentially threatening Meloni’s chances of returning to power unless she negotiates some kind of electoral deal with Vannacci.
However, any such alliance could backfire for Meloni. Vannacci’s anti-EU, pro-Russia stance and his close connections to far-right European parties — including Germany’s AfD — could drive away moderate voters who currently support her.
Taking the most aggressive anti-immigration position in Italian politics, Vannacci said Sunday that he would reduce the number of foreign nationals living in Italy from roughly 12% of the population down to about 4%.
“We don’t have a programme for immigration, we have a programme for re-migration,” he told the cheering crowd.
The new party’s platform borrows heavily from positions Meloni herself championed while in opposition — before she took the reins of Italy’s massive national debt in 2022 and had to reassure financial markets.
Vannacci said he wants to open a debate on whether Italy should remain part of the euro currency zone. He also called for scrapping the EU’s Green Deal aimed at cutting carbon emissions, and lifting Italy’s existing ban on nuclear energy. The platform additionally includes family-friendly tax incentives, such as reductions for households with children.
Despite Italy having one of the lowest rates of murder and violent crime in the world, Vannacci declared security and defense his top priority, promising a zero-tolerance approach to crime and pledging to expand prison capacity.
While Vannacci has criticized Meloni for walking back on her own campaign promises, he did acknowledge that his own plans are subject to change.
“No plan survives the first shot in battle … it has to be adapted to reality,” he said.
