The General's Gambit: Italy's Far Right Turns on Itself

The Guardian's editorial this week draws our attention to a figure who embodies the restless energy of Europe's far right: Roberto Vannacci, a former general whose political party, National Future, is now polling just behind Forza Italia in Italy's coalition. The Guardian's argument is that his rise signals a normalisation of extreme politics, and we find ourselves in agreement, though we would add a caution about the direction of travel.

Vannacci's trajectory is instructive. A disciplinary inquiry for a book of bile and bigotry made him a bestseller; a seat in the European Parliament gave him a platform; and now his party threatens to outflank the very government that once tolerated him. The Guardian notes that he is pro-Putin, anti-EU, and committed to a 'cultural homogeneity' that would expel immigrants and their descendants. This is not a fringe voice but a growing one, and it is a problem not for the military but for the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

The dilemma for Meloni is real and the world's press has captured it well. To beat the left next year, she may need the support of a party that does not disguise its sympathy with Italy's fascist past. But to seek it would undermine her efforts to present her own Brothers of Italy as a mainstream conservative force. The Guardian's editorial is right to say that the rest of Europe should take notice, for the emergence of National Future confirms that the far right is not just dragging mainstream politics towards extremism but radicalising itself.

We would add a note of caution: the focus on Vannacci risks making him seem inevitable. The polls are real, but so is the resistance — in the streets, in the courts, and in the quiet stubbornness of a country that has survived worse. The world's coverage tends to flatten Italy into a cautionary tale, but our pages will continue to report the full picture, including the voices that refuse the general's gambit. The question is not whether he will rise, but whether the rest of Europe will learn the lesson before it is too late.