Centre parked Mainstream alliance holds in the face of far-right surge

So in the end, with a couple of alarming wobbles, the centre held in Europe.

- Jon Henley

As polls predicted, the mainstream pro-EU alliance of centre-right, centre-left, liberal and Green parties in the European parliament hung on, comfortably, to its majority.

National conservative and far-right forces made big gains, ending up with just under a quarter of MEPs in the 720-seat assembly - their highest tally ever. But in some places they fared worse than forecast.

Where they did do well, they did very well, most notably in France, where Emmanuel Macron's humbling 15%-32% defeat by Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) pushed the French president into the huge gamble of calling a snap legislative election.

In Germany, too, despite a number of scandals including Nazi whitewashing, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) garnered a higher percentage of the national vote (16%) than any of the three parties that make up the beleaguered coalition of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

These are worrying developments in the two countries that have traditionally acted as the motor that has driven the EU forward.

France faces the risk of a farright majority in parliament, while Germany's government has been further weakened.