PVV leader Geert Wilders has invited Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far right party Front National, to a meeting in the Dutch parliamentary complex in November, Le Pen told television show Nieuwsuur on Monday evening.

Wilders wants to discuss his plans to form a coalition with nationalist parties to fight the European elections next year. The two met in April for the first time.

Wilders has already made approaches to the Vlaams Belang, Italy’s Lega Nord and the UK Independence Party, the Volkskrant said earlier this year. UKIP and Sweden’s Democrats have refused to join an alliance with the Front National.

Le Pen said she had wanted to meet Wilders to form her own opinion of him ‘away from the devilish image sketched by the media and other politicians.’ ‘When we first met, we realised we had an awful lot in common,’ she said.

Wilders confirmed the invitation to Le Pen during the programme. ‘She is a charismatic politician. Parties like the Front National and the PVV can force the Europhile elite to lower their tone a little through the European elections,’ he said.