MILAN — Italian far-right leader Matteo Salvini declared Monday he aims to form the biggest group in the European Parliament as he joined forces with Euroskeptics from outside his current political family to launch his election campaign.

Salvini, Italy's interior minister and leader of the League party, said the group would "change the rules of Europe" when he presented his plans at a luxury hotel in Milan alongside MEPs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Danish People's Party and Finland's True Finns.

He said he wants the new group to play a decisive role in choosing the members of the next European Commission later this year following May's European election.

"Our goal is to finally be a governing force and a force of change," Salvini said.

He said those assembled in Milan would work together with the League's traditional allies such as Marine Le Pen's National Rally, although the French party was notably absent from Monday's event. The parties share common themes, he added, including border control and "the fight against terrorism and against extremism."

"We must put work, family, safety, the defense of environment back at the center" — Matteo Salvini

The event, held under the title "Toward a Europe of Common Sense," represented a dramatic ramping-up of populist ambitions for the next European Parliament.

Yet Euroskeptic parties have often struggled to work together in the legislature, or even to stay united within their blocs — meaning that Salvini will have his work cut out to form a stable and cohesive alliance this time.

"The ambitious goal of all those around this table is to give birth to the first group in the next European Parliament," Salvini told reporters. The group, he said, would be "the largest, the most significant, most determined and future-oriented in the next European Parliament."

Salvini acknowledged that the parties "had differences." But he said he would seek to woo those beyond the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) group, which includes the League, to change the "nightmare" of current EU policy priorities.

"We must put work, family, safety, the defense of environment back at the center," he declared.

The ENF currently has 37 MEPs, including from the National Rally, Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ), Belgium's Vlaams Belang and the Dutch Freedom Party, among others.

It is on course to become the fifth-biggest group in the next Parliament with 59 seats, according to POLITICO's projections, so Salvini's aim of forming the largest bloc looks like a very tall order. But if he can keep his current allies and attract new partners such as Germany's AfD, a stronger Euroskeptic bloc in the next Parliament appears to be a distinct possibility.

AfD co-leader Jörg Meuthen was among those attending Monday's event. He said a new group called the European Alliance of People and Nations is already in the works.

The AfD currently sits in another European Parliament bloc, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, and has been wary of joining up with some other far-right parties, particularly Le Pen's National Rally.

Salvini played down the absence of National Rally MEPs from Monday's gathering, saying it would have been impractical for all 15 of them to attend.

One roof

Meuthen said the new alliance would launch a platform to unite Euroskeptic parties. "If they want to come together under the same roof, they are welcome," he said.

The AfD would bring a projected 13 seats to any new Euroskeptic group in the next Parliament. But to make inroads into the center ground, the new alliance would need a larger injection of fresh blood. Salvini has explored alliances with the ruling parties of Poland and Hungary but neither has made the leap so far.

Salvini's gathering also attracted members of a third European Parliament group in the form of the Danish People's Party and the True Finns. They belong to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which is home to Britain's Tories and Poland's governing Law and Justice party.

The addition of the two Nordic parties would boost Salvini's new alliance, though not by much.

The Danish party is the third political force in Denmark, but it holds only three seats in the European Parliament and is expected to lose one in May's election. The True Finns are projected to hold onto their two seats.

"What unites us is far greater that the things that divide us" — Anders Vistisen

Anders Vistisen, an MEP from the Danish People's Party, described the new alliance as "an open invitation" to all like-minded parties "to have a chat with us."

"It remains to be seen who will join the new alliance," he said, adding "what unites us is far greater that the things that divide us."

Vistisen said he would not quit the ECR immediately, as the new alliance with Salvini would only manifest itself after the election. "It's up for negotiations what organizational form it will take," he added.

One possibility, he said, is to have several political factions coming together "under one big umbrella."

"We have different geopolitical interests," said Olli Kotro, an MEP candidate of the True Finns. But he added that the parties would unite on "border protection, culture and the fight against Euro-federalism."