Meloni rules out alliance with Vannacci's National Future, which polls near 8%

Meloni rules out an alliance

On Friday, 30 October, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ruled out an alliance with Roberto Vannacci and his National Future party (Futuro nazionale) ahead of the general election due next year. She made the remarks in answer to a question from journalist Bruno Vespa for his new book, Storia della Seconda Repubblica. Da Berlusconi a Meloni, da Prodi a Schlein, which Mondadori-Rai Libri releases on Monday, 2 November. Meloni said she wants a clear mandate from voters to keep governing and intends to return to government with the centre-right as it currently stands, strengthened by new civic movements that are forming now.

“I want to ask Italians to keep governing without blackmail. I was not blackmailable before, and I do not intend to be.”

Why she rejects Vannacci

Meloni argued that Vannacci chose to leave the League, where he had been deputy secretary, and with it the centre-right. She said the MPs who followed him were all elected on centre-right lists and had begun voting against the government alongside Giuseppe Conte, Elly Schlein, Matteo Renzi and Nicola Fratoianni. She described that group as a very broad field whose arguments are often similar. Her sharpest charge concerned National Future's stated purpose, which she said is to defeat the first prime minister the Italian right has ever produced. She added that if this government lost, the left would govern.

“National Future has a declared aim: to make the first prime minister the Italian right has ever produced lose at the polls.”

Vannacci's reply

Vannacci responded the same day on Radio1's programme Un giorno da pecora, asking why Meloni wanted the left to win. He dismissed the broad coalition as a graveyard and said he would not join it, while accusing the centre-right of forming a jumble that now includes Cateno De Luca, Marattin and perhaps Calenda. He said an alliance with the centre-right was even possible at 100 percent if it stayed within the red lines his party has drawn, and that decisions would be taken close to the election. He also said Meloni would make her own decisions around 30 to 40 days before the vote.

“The only loyalty we have is to the voters, who believe in the red lines we have set.”

Polls and the election outlook

ANSA reports that National Future has risen in the polls to around 8%, and pollsters say Vannacci could act as kingmaker. Without an arrangement with him, Meloni's right-wing alliance is set to be edged out by the centre-left, according to the same reporting. Vannacci's agenda includes remigration, which the premier considers too extreme for her, although he said on Thursday that 80% of it matched the plan she had in 2018. A Portuguese report says he founded National Future in February 2026 after leaving the League, and that the party has gained popularity month after month. The general election is due next year, and its date has not yet been set.