By Valentina Za, Elvira Pollina and Francesca Landini
CERNOBBIO, Italy, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Italy's rising far-right politician Roberto Vannacci told a high profile business forum on Saturday that the European Union should halt political integration and start defending its cultural identity instead, prompting former Prime Minister Mario Monti to warn against his "fascist rhetoric."
Vannacci, a former general whose Futuro Nazionale (National Future) party has become Italy's fourth-most-popular force just seven months after its launch, was debating with Monti on the topic of EU integration at the gathering of managers and entrepreneurs.
Calling for the EU to slash red tape, he told the annual TEHA Ambrosetti conference on the shores of Lake Como that the 27-nation bloc should become "a platform of collaboration, not coercion."
Vannacci said right-wing forces like his own were the future of Europe, looking forward to an election on Sunday in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt where Alternative for Germany (AfD) is hoping to win power for the first time, and citing the strength of Rassemblement National (RN) in France.
Speaking at the same conference, RN leader Jordan Bardella said he was in favour of "changing everything without destroying anything" in the EU, to build "a Europe of growth and a Europe of borders."
Vannacci, whose proposals include abolishing Italy's same-sex "civil unions" and expelling immigrants who fail to assimilate "the values of our civilisation," is siphoning support from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's coalition as she seeks a new mandate at elections expected next year.
Europe should stop producing rules that hobble economic initiative and instead defend its "culture and civilisation," Vannacci said.
Business can only flourish in "a cohesive society," he said, in which "a spirit of sacrifice and a sense of belonging push citizens to work harder and take risks every day."
Monti, 83, a two-times EU Commissioner who led Italy during an acute 2011-12 debt crisis, said Vannacci may be in government one day but he was "terrified" by the prospect of his party stoking Italians' feelings of dissatisfaction and resentment like wartime dictator Benito Mussolini did.
"Old as I am, if this were to pass I'd devote what's left of my life to stopping it," he said.
Vannacci's speech drew polite applause from the audience, which showed warmer appreciation of Monti's remarks.
Arianna Fontana, a speed-skater who this year became Italy's most decorated Olympian, told Reuters at the business forum she was "almost moved to tears" by the conclusion of Monti's speech, while other guests backed Vannacci's criticism of the EU.
"Many of the things the General said are true," said construction lobbyist Achille Colombo Clerici.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau in Paris: Editing by Gavin Jones)
