Italian general launches new far-right party, challenging Meloni

Retired Italian paratrooper General Roberto Vannacci officially launched a new political party, Futuro Nazionale (National Future), on Sunday, positioning it as a more hardline nationalist alternative to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative coalition. Vannacci, who left Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's League party four months ago, drew cheers of "Generale, Generale" at the founding congress.

Polls currently give Vannacci's populist movement around 5% support, approaching the League and potentially undermining Meloni's hopes of returning to power in national elections next year unless she strikes an electoral pact with him. However, such an alliance could alienate moderate voters repelled by Vannacci's anti-European, pro-Russian platform and his ties to far-right European parties like Germany's Alternative for Germany.

Vannacci's program includes drastic immigration cuts, aiming to reduce the foreign-born population from an estimated 12% to 4%, calling it a "remigration" plan. He also proposes debating Italy's eurozone membership, scrapping the EU's Green Deal, reversing the ban on nuclear energy, and prioritizing law and order with zero tolerance for crime and new prison construction. The platform also includes family support measures such as tax cuts for parents.

Vannacci criticized Meloni for failing to keep many campaign promises but acknowledged his own program is not final, saying "no plan survives the first shot in battle." In 2024, he received an 11-month suspension for publishing a book, "The World Upside Down," condemned as homophobic, racist, and sexist.