Status quo powers fall away in EU elections earthquake

SUNDAY night's results from the high turnout European Parliament (EP) elections, the biggest multi-country election in the world, saw gains for anti-integration parties - and also centrist liberals and greens. In what will be widely perceived as a referendum on the six-decade integration project of the Brussels-based club, there was a mixed message from voters resulting in a more fragmented political landscape that will help set the EU political agenda into the 2020s.

Yet, the ballot is not just important for the future of the continent, but also the rest of the world too given that the 28-member EU remains an economic superpower with its collective gross domestic product (GDP) paralleling that of the United States, and remaining larger than that of China. It is also the world's biggest exporter with the scores of nations - ranging from China in Asia to Brazil in South America - for which Europe is their leading trade partner.

Building on the results of the 2014 EP elections, and recent national elections across the continent, eurosceptic parties made clear gains in some countries, including the extreme-right The League in Italy, Fidesz in Hungary and the UK's Brexit Party. Yet, at the same time, the centrist, pro-EU Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) also won many seats, buoyed by the addition of French President Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! to its group.