Between migrants and fuel (and Sánchez): this is how Vannacci wants to ruin Meloni’s summer

Vannacci, who agrees with Pedro Sánchez on immigration, is now trying to spoil Giorgia Meloni’s summer. Whether he succeeds will be revealed by the polls and the coming months. For now, he has already ruined his MPs’ holidays: “I’d already booked my holiday, blimey, I have to leave on Thursday,” says futurist Rossano Sasso at the cafeteria. The General is preparing his final shots before the summer break and, this afternoon – on the day Giancarlo Giorgetti is due to make his statement on flexibility in defence and energy – he will return to Rome to discuss immigration and the energy crisis. Edoardo Ziello and Massimiliano Simoni, FN’s national coordinator, will be there to explain “the General’s vision for Italy”.

The ‘Vannacci effect’ is growing and spreading. Yesterday, the Minister for Education, Giuseppe Valditara, announced a new circular to limit the number of foreign pupils in classrooms: ‘A maximum of 30 per cent’. The measure follows the resolution tabled by Sasso on the issue. And today, the same MP will question the Minister for Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, on high fuel prices: “The other day he explained that the money is there, but petrol prices keep rising. He must resign; it is the FdI members who are the first to say they no longer want him.”

With yesterday’s Council of Ministers meeting, the government took action on the issue of fuel prices. But the general public is calling for more to be done. And Vannacci is gloating. Some polls confirm that they have overtaken AVS too; they are just a few decimal points behind Forza Italia. They are the fifth-largest party, according to the surveys. At today’s press conference, Futurist sources explain, a number of summer events will be unveiled, which will serve to relax and, above all, to gauge support. Such as the event in Calabria on 13 August, where Domenico Furgiuele (Fn’s regional coordinator) and Ziello will be in Reggio for an event. Here in October, the by-election will take place following the election of FI MP Cannizzaro as the city’s mayor. And Fn could throw a spanner in the works for the centre-right, which has fielded Fabio Roscioli, FI’s treasurer, as its candidate – a foretaste of what might happen in the general election. But the issue “is not on the agenda”, says Furgiuele, adding: “We are focused on building a grassroots presence that will see us out on the ground throughout the month.”

They’re chipping away at support, hammering home the immigration issue. And they’re back on Sánchez again: “He’s right when he attacks Meloni.” But only on landings and repatriations, let’s be clear: “If you regularise 500,000 people, you’re sending a signal of openness. That’s not on,” Sasso clarifies, suggesting that the Immigration Quota Decree is heading in the same direction. “Those workers aren’t going back home.” And what about the business owners asking for labour? “They’re a pain in the arse: let them pay well!”, he retorts, quoting Marx. The left-wing Vannacci supporters? “These aren’t my sort of people,” Furgiuele adds. Just like an early-day Five Star Movement supporter – after all, Kyiv Fn and the M5S have very similar views on Kyiv. But there’s no rapprochement: "Conte is like a clock: even if it’s broken, it tells the right time twice a day." Today in the Chamber of Deputies, alongside Giorgetti, there will be a vote on the Justice Decree, which transposes the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact. There will be a vote of confidence – what will Fn do? It’s the usual script: yes to the measure, no to the government. Relentless torment on the right.