Emmanuel Macron's party was trounced by candidates for Marine Le Pen's Nationalist Party.

Macron called snap elections saying he couldn't ignore the message.

In France, Italy and Germany a shift to the right and far-right.

Predicted and feared by some voters.

When you look at the polls

I mean the far-right is set to make important gains this time and yeah that worries me as a new citizen.

In Germany the hard-right party AFD celebrated a second-place finish in the country.

Young voters turning right and leaving the Green Party.

But it's absolutely clear that especially the young voting results in Germany are devastating.

European Greens lost nearly all the gains they made in the last elections just five years ago.

I think the challenges are bigger and the political situation is becoming less stable.

It's not a good combination.

Europeans are feeling buffeted by war, by increasing migration and an inflationary economy.

Hundreds of millions voted.

Turnout was up over 50 percent.

In villages in the Flemish part of Belgium many voters supported nationalist parties over an expanded EU.

I feel a little bit neglected by our government in the last five years in a lot of ways.

Bart Spieschens told us he's fed up with the EU's political machine.

Brussels is like a very big money pit where we throw our money in and it's going down and it's going down and there's nothing nothing coming out again.

The European bloc faces monumental challenges in the next five years.

Ursula von der Leyen and the European People's Party did win the majority of votes.

There remains a majority in the centre for strong Europe and that is crucial for stability.

In other words the centre is holding.

But celebrations like these from the right Sunday night in Paris puts Europe at a crossroads at a perilous time.

So Susan what's next?

Well those French elections were a surprise.

The first vote in three weeks sandwiched in before the Paris Olympics.

And you know this EU vote puts pressure on several leaders.

The German Chancellor's party had its worst showing ever.

And in Austria a far-right party was elected first.

And they go to national elections in the fall.

So as Ursula von der Leyen said tonight there's turmoil all around.

International climate correspondent Susan Ormiston reporting tonight from Brussels.