The troll known as Vannacci

General Vannacci is like a mirror for Giorgia Meloni. A mirror of what Meloni could have been – and, for some, should have been – four years ago. And a mirror of what she has become four years on from her record-breaking term in government. Consistency is not exactly Vannacci’s strong point, and a politician who left a party just a few months after swearing he would never leave it is hardly in a position to judge the consistency of others. However, on certain issues the consistency that Vannacci demands of Meloni highlights the Prime Minister’s backtracking on her promises, while on others, by contrast, Meloni’s distance from her past reflects her progress and growth. On foreign policy, the troll known as Vannacci merely reveals a truth that offers some solace: the anti-European stance Meloni flaunted years ago is now nothing but a distant memory. On the issue of preferential voting, however, the troll known as Vannacci exposes a weakness in Meloni: once, the leader of Fratelli d’Italia criticised rival parties for lacking courage in failing to support preferential voting; today, the Prime Minister herself lacks the courage to fight for a full preferential voting system. The electoral law, in truth, if it ever comes to pass, contains a rudimentary form of preferential voting, but the stakes are clear: during the election campaign, will Meloni allow Vannacci to remind people of what could have been but was not, on the right, or will she use what has been achieved in government to demonstrate that the new right is better than that which inspires the general beloved by patriots for Putin?

     

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