Meloni says right-wing president is no longer taboo, dismisses Vannacci as indistinguishable from the opposition

Breaking the Quirinale taboo

In an interview with Nicola Porro on Rete 4’s '10 minuti', Meloni suggested that the long-standing convention of a left-leaning head of state could end after the next general election. She said an establishment would find such an outcome 'terrible' but that things could change. 'It was thought nothing could change, but it was shown that things could change,' she argued. The prime minister framed it as an assertion of equal rights: 'Whoever is not on the left is not a lesser child of God, has the same rights as others.'

It’s not said that this other great taboo can’t be overcome: that of having a President of the Republic who is not of the centre-left.

She stressed that the scenario depends on the voters: 'It will be decided by the Italians.' The remarks mark a sharper public embrace of the idea since her government became Italy’s longest-serving in recent history.

Vannacci: 'only wants to destroy'

Meloni poured cold water on any rapprochement with Roberto Vannacci and his Futuro Nazionale party, which has been polling in double digits and draining support from the right. She equated his movement to the left-wing opposition.

I don’t see a big difference between MP Vannacci’s movement and all the other opposition parties. They vote like the left, they want to bring down the government exactly like the left, they speak against us all day exactly like the left.

She listed the usual critics as 'Schlein, Conte, Bonelli, Renzi, Gruber and company' and said that now Vannacci joins them. While acknowledging that he raises themes she has long worked on, she dismissed him: 'It’s hard to build something with someone who clearly only wants to destroy.'

Immigration and remigration

Confronted with Vannacci’s flagship policy of 'remigration', Meloni defined it as something Italy already does: assisted voluntary repatriation. 'For how I interpret it, remigration is assisted voluntary returns. We already do them,' she said. She noted that the Italian state, the EU and UNHCR all carry out such programmes. The real difficulty, she conceded, lies with migrants who refuse to leave.

The problem you have is with those who don’t want to go, and there it becomes clearly a bit more complicated.

Foreign policy: not anti-American, not subservient

Responding to earlier tensions after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s comments about flights from US bases in Italy, Meloni described his statement as 'very approximate'. She explained that the number of flights was lower than in previous years, fell within normal base activities and was not kinetic. She called for caution because the information 'could be misinterpreted, as it was also by the Iranian authorities'.

On her broader stance, she rejected both anti-American and prostrate labels, citing her belief in a united West. 'Strong relationships are also founded on frankness, and I am a frank person,' she said.

I am not anti-American today, nor was I on my knees yesterday. I believe that the West is stronger united, and that Italy is stronger in a united West.

Electoral reform and domestic goals

Meloni insisted the proposed electoral law does not benefit any party but 'favours Italians' by letting them choose the winner and giving that winner a clear governing mandate. She claimed it is opposed by all those who have governed without winning elections because they want to keep playing 'palace games'. On other domestic issues, she asked for patience on the housing plan and reiterated her preference for a negotiated 'fair wage' over a state-imposed minimum wage, calling the latter 'much more liberal and effective'.