"We hope that we will be able to repeat [Marine] Le Pen's National Front success on the next elections," Salvini said, citing FN’s strong showing at the first round of municipal polls earlier this month.
The anti-EU party opened the voting with 28 percent of votes but was edged out by mainstream parties in the second round.
Salvini stressed that FN’s defeat in the second round did not reduce the significance of a "strong message" that the initial results should send to the government not only in France but also in other EU states.
FN’s transformation from an also-ran to a rival of conservative parties is part of a larger trend in Europe, including in Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Hungary and Poland, where eurosceptic and anti-immigration parties have been making gains since 2014.
