A new anti-EU, pro-Russia party led by a former general is surging in the polls in Italy. A headache for Giorgia Meloni

Futuro Nazionale, an anti-EU and pro-Russia party that presents itself as an uncompromising nationalist group and accuses Meloni of being too soft, is rated at around 4% in polls, Reuters writes.

A new far-right party in Italy appears to be causing problems for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The Futuro Nazionale party, led by former general Roberto Vannacci, is polling around 4% and growing.

Just four months after leaving the League, Meloni's coalition ally, Vannacci says he has attracted nearly 100,000 dues members to his new movement. The party will be officially inaugurated this weekend

The score assigned to Futuro Nazionale could be extremely important in next year's general elections, and Meloni, writes Reuters, could be faced with a dilemma: to accept or reject a collaboration.

“The right that does not fear”

Futuro Nazionale, an anti-EU and pro-Russia party, presents itself as an uncompromising nationalist group and accuses Meloni of being too soft.

“We represent that right that has not faded, does not hesitate and is not afraid,” Vannacci told a group of foreign journalists earlier this year after leaving the League, the grouping led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

“Many positions taken in the last three years by this government have revealed a fearful right,” he said, arguing that Meloni had been weak to Brussels, failed to fight crime and failed to keep promises to repatriate migrants.

Vannacci's way to the first stage of politics

Vannacci rose to prominence three years ago with the publication of a book he said promoted traditional Italian values ​​while disparaging LGBTQ people, migrants and feminists.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the book discredited the military and Vannacci, who served as Italy's military attache to Russia from 2020 to 2022, was suspended from active duty.

Salvini welcomed Vannacci into the League, giving him the springboard he needed to win the 2024 European Parliament elections.

This gave Vannacci a platform to build a solid fan base based on his own personality – direct, disciplined and confrontational – before he struck out on his own in February.

Meloni and Salvini will be pressured to adopt more radical positions

“Salvini was hoping to take advantage of Vannacci's popularity, but it backfired terribly,” Sofia Ventura, a professor of political science at the University of Bologna, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Salvini will now have to take more radical positions to avoid being overtaken. This is a problem for Meloni, who may also feel compelled to follow the same path,” she said.

An SWG poll published on Friday puts the Futuro Nazionale at 4.6%, close to Liga, which sits at 5.8%.

The same poll showed an informal alliance of center-left parties with a slight lead over Meloni's bloc.

The “purity” of movement

None of the parties in the governing coalition have suggested forming an alliance with Vannacci, who in the European Parliament has aligned himself with groups such as AfD, Germany's far-right party shunned by mainstream parties.

An alliance would be particularly uncomfortable for Forza Italia, led by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and funded by the Berlusconi family, which has adopted a more progressive social outlook since the former prime minister's death.

“I am not talking to Vannacci,” Tajani told Reuters, but did not rule out contact before the elections expected in the next 18 months.

Vannacci insists his party belongs to the right-wing camp, but made clear that any deal would be on his terms, saying he would not compromise the “purity” of the movement.

This position unsettles many in Meloni's camp.

Since taking office, she has transformed the “Brothers of Italy” from a far-right protest party into a more mainstream conservative governing force with credibility in Brussels and Washington, supporting Ukraine and portraying herself as a reliable Atlanticist.

The future of the party

Vannacci's rise threatens to pull her coalition in the opposite direction. His party has already begun recruiting from government ranks, attracting eight MPs from coalition parties, and combines hard-line anti-EU rhetoric with skepticism of Western support for Ukraine.

“In my opinion, unconditional support in terms of arms and money to Ukraine is not good for Europe,” he said.

For now, Futuro Nazionale remains closely linked to Vannacci's charisma. But if it aims to evolve beyond its status as a protest vehicle, it will need to build a larger organization.

Vannacci's trajectory mirrors that of Meloni, who spent a decade building the Brotherhood of Italy in opposition, free from government compromises, before taking power in 2022.

“We've seen this story a million times. Someone stands up and says: 'You betrayed us; now I'm coming, pure and hard, without compromise,'” said League deputy Alberto Bagnai.

“But you get to a point where this political force has to decide whether to remain pure and uncompromising – thus doing a service to the (centre-left) Democratic Party – or seek a compromise with the centre-right,” he said, quoted by Reuters.