Hard right anti-Brussels parties made the biggest shock in the EU elections, holding almost a quarter of the seats.
In a blow for French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, the results are expected to help shift the European parliament towards a more anti-immigration and anti-green stance.
President Macron shocked France calling a snap election for the National Assembly after exit polls gave Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National more than double the vote share of Macron’s centrist alliance.
The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) shrugged off a string of scandals to take second place, making gains in particular among the young, while Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats scored their worst result ever.
While the centre, liberal and Socialist parties were set to retain a majority in the 720-seat parliament, the vote raised questions about how the European Union's major powers can drive policy in the bloc.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced his resignation after the defeat of his Flemish Liberals and Democrats party (Open VLD).
The exit poll projected that pro-European centre-right, centre-left, liberal and Green parties will retain a majority of 460 seats, but one which is slimmed down compared to their 488 in the outgoing chamber of 705 deputies.
Europe's Green parties in particular suffered heavy losses, subsiding to 53 deputies from 71 in the outgoing parliament.
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In Austria, the count of votes cast in polling stations on Sunday plus a projection for postal ballots confirmed Freedom Party won but by a smaller margin than had been forecast, national broadcaster ORF said.
In the Netherlands, estimates based on most of the votes counted confirmed exit polls that showed a Labour/GreenLeft combination was set to have won eight seats, slightly ahead of the anti-immigration party of Geert Wilders' six seats.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Coalition (KO) was set to win Sunday's European vote, taking a step towards establishing itself as the dominant force in the country after a campaign dominated by security concerns.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's nationalist Fidesz party came first but posted its worst result in a national or EU election in nearly two decades, as support surged for the pro-European Tisza party, which is led by political newcomer Peter Magyar.
More to come...
