On the eve of the EU election, France’s National Rally party sees it as too risky to team up with Alternative for Germany.

Just as Europe’s far right is poised to make big gains in next month’s EU election, a spat between two of its most powerful parties risks spoiling the victory parade before the champagne is even opened.

This week a long-simmering feud between Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France exploded. Le Pen’s party is polling first in France, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron, while the AfD is polling second in Germany. Together they could return about 50 MEPs to the next Parliament, and team up as a nationalist, anti-immigration political force.

But, for now at least, Le Pen wants to keep the Germans at arm’s length. Her lead candidate Jordan Bardella’s campaign director said comments about the Nazis by AfD lead candidate Maximilian Krah went too far by asserting that SS members were not necessarily war criminals.