Opposition MPs accused Futuro Nazionale of using language reminiscent of fascist-era legislation during a Lower House debate on housing policy. The new far-right party presses its “Italians first” agenda.
A heated row broke out in Italy’s Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday during debate on the government’s housing plan, after opposition MPs accused a deputy from Roberto Vannacci’s Futuro Nazionale (FN) of invoking prejudice rooted in name and religion as criteria for housing allocation.
Federico Fornaro, a Democratic Party MP, accused FN deputy Rossano Sasso of having “crossed a line” by suggesting that having a foreign name or belonging to a certain religion was sufficient grounds to be disadvantaged in access to housing.
“This brings to mind 1938 and the racial laws,” Fornaro said from the floor. He was referring to the fascist-era legislation that stripped Italian Jews of their civil rights and professional standing under Mussolini’s regime.
Sasso rejected the accusation, defending FN’s position as a straightforward matter of national priority. “Housing for Italians first,” he said. He then turned the accusation back on his opponents and accusing the centre-left of being “racist toward Italians.”
Housing as a political battleground
The confrontation reflects FN’s deliberate strategy of using housing as one of its first major legislative pressure points. The party’s four deputies recently submitted their inaugural bill, calling for the creation of a dedicated housing ministry with its own funding, personnel and offices. It is a move that also served as an implicit challenge to Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who currently holds responsibility for housing policy within the Meloni government. Salvini played a leading role in drafting the housing plan now under debate.
At FN’s founding congress in Rome on 13–14 June, Sasso was among the most combative voices on the platform, declaring that the party was “in a struggle against the Islamisation of Italy”. He also called for psycho-aptitude tests for teachers. The congress, held at the Auditorium della Conciliazione, saw Vannacci lay out a programme built around remigration, national identity and opposition to what he described as left-wing cultural dominance in schools and public life.
Current polling places the party at between 4% and 5%, a potentially decisive share ahead of the 2027 general election. Vannacci has long declined to describe himself as antifascist — arguing that “you cannot be against something that no longer exists”. Furthermore, he has referred to Mussolini on multiple occasions as a “statesman.”
