Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has said that Italy and Poland could trigger a “European spring” that could break the dominant “Germany-France axis” as he strives to forge far-right alliances before the European parliamentary elections in May.

Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League, travelled to Poland on Wednesday for strategy meetings with members of the ruling Law and Justice party. The two parties share similar anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and Eurosceptic views.

He said during a press conference with the Polish interior minister, Joachim Brudziński, that the Europe that could emerge after the elections could bring about a “renaissance of European values” and “lead us away from the one that is run by bureaucrats”.

Brudziński praised Salvini’s hardline immigration strategy, which has included closing off Italian ports to migrant boats, adding that the two countries shared common goals such as “strengthening borders” and helping to improve conditions in migrants’ home countries.

Salvini first mooted the idea of a pan-European network of nationalist parties weeks after forming a coalition government with former arch rival, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), last June.

He has already forged a partnership with the French far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, with the pair saying during a press conference in Rome in October that the EU elections would usher in a new era of “common sense” as nationalist parties rally to restore values, pride and dignity for ordinary workers.

At the same time, Salvini’s coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, announced that he was preparing an election manifesto with European populist groups that are in coherence with his M5S. He held a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday with Paweł Kukiz, a former rock star who heads up Poland’s Kukiz’15; Ivan Sincic, of Croatia’s Living Wall and Karolina Kähönen, the co-founder of Liike Nyt, which describes itself as a liberal political movement in Finland.

“They are young but they have an ever-increasing consensus,” Di Maio wrote on Facebook. “They are the coolest and most beautiful energies in Europe. Our dream is a Europe with more social rights, more innovation and less privileges. A Europe that puts the needs of its citizens first.”

Di Maio also sparked a row with France earlier this week after urging the yellow vests, who have held several violent anti-government protests since early December, to “not give up”. He said the protests reminded him of the spirit that gave birth to the M5S and he is planning to meet yellow vest activists over the next few days.

As Italy’s two leaders’ ramp up campaigning, the League is currently tipped to emerge as the biggest Italian party in the European elections. The party is polling at around 30%, slightly higher than the M5S.

“Salvini has the same slogans as the rightwing parties in Europe but essentially different strategies, so I wonder if they would be truly powerful in a new EU parliament,” said Mattia Diletti, a politics professor at Rome’s Sapienza University.

“As for M5S, Di Maio knows that by saying something sympathetic about the yellow vests, they are trying to boost popularity by reminding people that ‘we were revolutionary too’. But he’s being naive – he’s interfering in French politics and is not considering how a minister should be within a European context.”