In a dramatic session at the Chamber of Deputies, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni launched an unprecedented direct attack on Roberto Vannacci, the former general whose newly formed Futuro Nazionale party is siphoning support from her right-wing coalition. ‘You are not the true right, you are functional to the left,’ Meloni declared, signalling that the internal battle for leadership of Italy’s conservative movement has now spilled into open conflict. The outburst came during a wider parliamentary address ahead of the June 18-19 European Council, where Meloni also railed against what she described as a Brussels bureaucracy that ‘overturns decisions taken by political leaders during long nights of negotiation.’

Viewed from Rome, Italy has been sidelined by the so-called E3 format—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—which recently sent their ambassadors to Moscow to condemn Russian escalation and reaffirm support for U.S.- and European-mediated talks. The meeting, which Moscow’s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin dismissed as emblematic of ‘destructive policies,’ left Italy outside a core diplomatic group. Meloni is now pushing for a single EU-appointed envoy to lead engagement with Russia, a move that has gained tacit backing from President Sergio Mattarella. Analysts in Brussels note that the name of former Prime Minister Mario Draghi circulates persistently as a candidate, though the government refuses to confirm it publicly.

The clash over diplomatic process mirrors a broader conflict over the nature of European decision-making. Meloni firmly rejected calls to abolish the unanimity requirement in the European Council, arguing that majority voting would create ‘a Europe that excludes and imposes.’ Instead, she insisted on an approach ‘that aggregates, brings closer, and finds syntheses,’ channeling the widespread Italian sentiment that the Union too often overrides national interests through technical rulings. This stance resonates far beyond Rome: in many capitals from Warsaw to Vienna, there is wariness of an overly intrusive Brussels that reinterprets political agreements, notably on climate policy, where Meloni cited a draft revision of the Emissions Trading System that she claims would betray the Council’s intent.

Domestically, the premier faces growing pressure. The opposition, uniting in a ‘front of no’ against a proposed electoral law, senses an opening. The Five Star Movement’s Giuseppe Conte labelled Meloni ‘Lady Tax,’ while Matteo Renzi mocked her government’s absence from a major international summit. Yet the more immediate threat comes from Vannacci, whose radical right platform echoes figures like Alice Weidel in Germany or Nigel Farage in Britain, and whose parliamentary group now numbers enough to disrupt the coalition’s calculations. Observers in London draw parallels with how populist insurgencies have repeatedly fractured mainstream conservative parties across Europe.

As Meloni heads to the European Council, she must demonstrate that her combative approach can deliver both influence in Brussels and electoral stability at home. The appointment of a high-profile envoy for Ukraine—whether Draghi or another figure—could offer a much-needed diplomatic victory. However, the underlying tension between national sovereignty and European integration, coupled with the fragmentation of the right, suggests that the prime minister’s biggest battles may lie not in the council chamber, but in the shifting allegiances of her own political family.