Italy. Meloni pulls alliance with Vannacci's far right

A italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, discards an alliance with the new figure emerging in the far right of Italy, former general Roberto Vannacci, stating that he intends to be reelected in 2027 to lead a government with the values of the present.

“I want to ask the Italian people to let me continue to rule without being blackmailed. I was never susceptible to blackmail, I did not allow myself to blackmail during my years in the government and I do not intend to do so in the future”, said the leader of the post-fascist party Brothers of Italy, who leads a government coalition that also integrates Force Italy (right) and League (extreme right).

Meloni's position, already taking as a background the legislative elections that will take place next year (still to be defined), was expressed in an interview with journalist and writer Bruno Vespa for a book (“History of the Second Republic: From Berlusconi to Meloni, from Prodi to Schlein”), which will be released on Monday, and whose excerpts were released today.

Without deepening the reasons for dispelling an alliance with the new party founded by Vannacci, the National Future, Meloni implied that it has a too radical agenda.

“I want to go back to the government and I want to do so with the centre-right as we know it, enriched by new civic movements that are currently taking shape and that can strengthen our political proposal,” Meloni said, who also accused the National Future of abandoning the centre-right and often voting alongside the centre-left opposition.

Vannacci, a former general of the paratrooper forces who prides himself on serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, gained notoriety thanks to an anti-woke bestseller and became the new figure of the Italian far right, with his speech marked by criticism of migrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

Invited by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini to join the League after the success of his book, Vannacci assumed last year a vice-presidency of this far-right party, but in February this year decided to follow his own path and founded the National Future, which has been gaining popularity month after month.

Meloni’s current executive, sworn in four years ago, became last month the longest of the 80 years of history in the Italian Republic, marked by political instability – with constant executive changes, no less than 68 – but his renewal is far from assured, and Vannacci may become a key figure in next year’s elections.

According to the latest polls, the Vannacci party currently has close to 7.5% of the voting intentions, surpassing either Antonio Tajani's Italy Force (7%), or Matteo Salvini's League (5%), Meloni's allies.

Many analysts anticipate that, although Meloni maintains his popularity and the Brothers of Italy continue to head the polls, with about 27% of the voting intentions, the right-wing bloc is in serious danger of not reaching a majority without including the National Future, because the so-called “wide field” of the left has been rising, with the Democratic Party (socialists), with 21%, and Movement 5. Stars (left populist), with 12.5%, appearing in the second and third places in the voting intentions, and the Green and Left Alliance sixth, with 6%.