The Danish People's Party (DF) and the Finns have both signed up to a pan-European right-wing alliance ahead of May's European election. The other founding members of the European Alliance for People and Nations are Italy's Lega and Germany's Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) parties.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini described the aim of the newly founded group as preserving Europe's borders, culture and history.
The ceremonial announcement in Milan was attended by Finns MEP Olli Kotro.
"Constructing a better and safer Europe with patriots!" Kotro tweeted, posting a picture of himself and his new-founded allies.
Parempaa ja turvallisempaa Eurooppaa rakentamassa kansallismielisin voimin!🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮
— Eurovaaliehdokas Olli Kotro 🇫🇮 (@OlliKotro) 8 апреля 2019 г.
Constructing a better and safer Europe with patriots!
Grazie @matteosalvinimi e @LegaSalvini!!
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
Danke @AfD und @Joerg_Meuthen!! 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪
Tusind tak @MEPvistisen og @DanskDf1995!!
🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/3DXnKD88CU
"Together we will fight for a safer Europe with well-protected external borders, less immigration and a stronger cooperation to tackle terrorism and Islamisation" Danish MEP Anders Vistinen of the Danish People's Party tweeted, posting the same photo.
As DF leading MEP candidate Peter Kofod put it, the idea of the new platform is to "fight federalism from within" and "support the interest of nation states". The new alliance will therefore have three major goals: a Europe of nations with the nation state in the centre, more protection for national culture and identity, and working together to stop to illegal immigration.
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According to Kofod, the alliance stands on the opposite side of French President Emmanuel Macron and intends to fight his plans of European superstate. The DF admittedly doesn't care for the fact that Salvini is often referred to as "controversial".
"The important thing is to change the EU in the right direction", Kofod explained in the DF's party newspaper, Dit Overblik. Kofod explained that the group intends to fight for "diversity in a sense that countries themselves have to adjust themselves as they please".
To be formally recognised as an official group in the European Parliament, the group needs at least 25 MEPs from seven different EU countries. France's National Rally and Austria's Freedom Party (FPÖ) are tipped as other potential future candidates.
The Danish People's Party and the Finns have in recent years been together in the Eurosceptic conservative ECR party group, together with the Sweden Democrats, the country's largest right-wing party. The latter, however, don't intend to join their Nordic peers at the moment.
"We have always had the goal of being in the ECR group with other conservative parties. We feel we are in the right group now", MEP Peter Lundgren explained.
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In 2014, the DF won the European Parliament election in Denmark by a wide margin, securing 27 per cent of the vote. The DF received 21 per cent of the vote in the 2015 general election, becoming the second-largest party in Denmark for the first time.
The Finns are currently polling third with over 15 per cent, which is a major improvement from single-digit polls following the 2017 schism, when half of the party departed to form the rivalling Blue Reform Party.
