The ultra ex-military man who threatens to overtake Meloni on the right
With a 'proudly' homophobic, sexist, and racist speech, Roberto Vannacci aims to overturn the Italian political scenario
RomeItaly's government will have been in power for 1,413 consecutive days on September 4, meaning the executive led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the longest-serving since the founding of the Republic in 1946. A record that is no small feat in a country accustomed to political instability and which has seen over seventy governments in 80 years. But the emergence of National Future, a small "ultra" party led by a retired army general, threatens to spoil the Italian leader's anniversary.
With a speech "proudly" homophobic, misogynistic and racist, Roberto Vannacci aims to challenge the leader of Brothers of Italy in the 2027 legislative elections. At 55 years old, with three university degrees and extensive experience at the head of the armed forces – he was commander during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – he became the "star of the summer of 2023 after self-publishing a book, The world upside down, in which he railed against feminists, immigrants and homosexuals, whom he does not consider "normal people".
The Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto, publicly distanced himself from the text, calling Vannacci's opinions "ravings" that "discredit the army, defence, and the Constitution". Crosetto pushed for the opening of a disciplinary proceeding that removed the general from the army's ranks, but opened the doors to politics for him.
Political trampoline
The red carpet was laid out by the league leader, Matteo Salvini. The man, who is also deputy prime minister, proposed the controversial general to head his party's lists in the European Parliament elections of June 2024. A risky bet for the leadera jurist, who at that time was highly questioned within his own party, but who ultimately proved to be a complete success. With more than half a million votes, Vannacci secured his seat.
Since then, however, tensions between the military and the League have not ceased, especially with the most influential barons of the former Northern League, such as the former president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, who was quick to celebrate the general's departure when a few months ago he decided to leave the party and found his own political creation. "I'm not surprised, he was a foreign body within the League," Zaia declared.
From Israel to Russia, Vannacci and Salvini share a similar worldview. Both acknowledge their admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and maintain their refusal to continue sending weapons to Kyiv. The difference is that, since the invasion of Ukraine, the League leader has had to moderate his discourse, while the general has remained a free spirit. "You can't run an election campaign saying no to more weapons for Ukraine, and the next day sign the decree that delivers weapons to Ukraine," the retired general denounced to justify his departure from the League.
The logo with which Futur Nacional will present itself in the next general elections – and which has been challenged for resembling that of another far-right party too closely – is already a statement of intent: a tricolor flame, and a typography that evokes that used during Mussolini's fascist regime.Salvini, the big loser
The political scientist Lorenzo Castellani considers that the ex-general's movement "responds to an attempt to create a far-right party on the margins of the center-right alliance that already governs". But Vannacci will not have it easy, as Meloni still leads all the voting intention polls. At the moment, on the other hand, the main victim is Salvini.
A recent YouTrend poll gave National Future 5.9% of voting intention, compared to the League's 5.8%, while only a few weeks ago another important opinion institute, SWG, placed the ex-general's party at 6.9%, compared to the League's 5.7%.
The latest electoral results have confirmed the loss of votes in historic strongholds such as Bergamo, or even in symbolic places like Pontida, where the Northern League was born 20 years ago, and have called into question Salvini's leadership within his party. The "barons" of the League no longer hide their doubts about the capacity of the also Minister of Transport and Vice-President of the government to continue at the head of a secessionist-minded formation that transformed into a national party with Salvini's arrival at the general secretariat in 2013.
The majority of observers agree in pointing out that behind the League's debacle lies the rise of Brothers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni's party. However, it is Vannacci's arrival on the political scene that could mark the beginning of the end for Salvini at the head of the League and open a crisis in the right-wing coalition, if National Future's support becomes indispensable for Meloni's re-election in 2027.
