French far-right politician Marine Le Pen says she would like to cooperate more closely with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
"Now is the moment to unite," Le Pen told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera at an election campaign event in northern France at the weekend.
Le Pen's National Rally is expected to rout French President Emmanuel Macron's party in elections for the European Parliament in just under two weeks, part of a broader far-right surge in several EU countries.
"If we are successful, we can become the second-largest group in the European Parliament. I think such an opportunity should not be missed," Le Pen said in the comments published on Sunday.
She and Meloni were in agreement on the key issues, Le Pen replied when asked what she had to say to the Italian prime minister who took office in 2022. An alliance "would be really helpful," Le Pen said.
The two politicians belong to two different political groups in the European Parliament.
Le Pen's National Rally sits with the right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) group, while Meloni's Brothers of Italy, which has neo-fascist roots, belongs to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
A major rift opened last in the ID group due to the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The trigger was the AfD's lead candidate for the elections, Maximilian Krah, saying that not all members of the SS, a Nazi paramilitary group, were criminals.
That led to denunciations from Le Pen's party, which is trying to shake off its anti-Semitic reputation, and ultimately the AfD's expulsion from the ID group.
Observers believe that Le Pen wants to move closer to Meloni and her party in order to forge new alliances in Europe after the split in the ID group.