Key takeaways from the European elections

After months of speculation, the formation of a new liberal group was announced by a parliament official on Sunday evening. He told journalists that due to the request of the liberal group in parliament, ALDE, French president Emmanuel Macron's party and a Romanian party alliance will be added to them. The liberals are now projected to have 109 seats compared to the current 69. "That means that no solid pro-European majority is possible without the help and participation of our new centrist groups," liberal group leader and lead candidate Guy Verhofstadt told the press on Sunday, in what sounded like a hint that he would be fine with an EPP and Socialist coalition including the liberals. "A coalition can be built of those who want to change things," Danish commissioner and other liberal lead candidate Margrethe Vestager said later, hinting she could support a progressive coalition. In any case, liberals are set to be king- or queen-makers.

'Green Wave' stops soon

The Greens were first to celebrate on Sunday night as exit polls trickled in. Greens have certainly made a slash in Germany, where they emerged as the second party in the country with 20.7 percent, behind chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU with 28.7 percent. In France too, the Green party saw a surge in support, scoring 13 percent and getting third place behind the far-right and Macron's centrist party. In Ireland, Greens gained 15 percent of the votes. Greens have also done well in Belgium, in Brussels, the Flemish and French-speaking Greens are expected to become the largest group. Overall, all this leads to a gain of 17 MEPs, according to the European Parliament's calculations, and their best-ever result, making the party the fourth largest in the parliament. It also exposes the 'Green Wave's' obstacles: a low presence in southern and eastern Europe.

Populists get over 100 seats

Marine Le Pen won in France, Nigel Farage claimed Britain and Matteo Salvini is victorious in Italy, Orban landslide in Hungary - these populists and nationalists victories would have sounded the pro-EU alarm normally. But on Sunday night, it was business as usual. Populists were expected to do well in the European elections, and some projections even envisioned a third of the seats going to anti-EU forces, making legislation in the parliament almost impossible, crippling the EU machinery. According to the parliament's projects, their current groups can add up to a total of 112 MEPs, up from 78. Eurosceptic conservatives mean another 59 MEPs. A lot depends in how closely these groups can work together when it comes to setting their own agenda in the parliament, upsetting the EU's legislature, and changing the bloc to their liking.

Poland and Romania backfire

While Hungary's premier Viktor Orban held onto his massive dominance in the country, with his Fidesz party winning 13 seats, in Poland and Romania, and other eastern European countries where the rule of law and democratic principles were challenges by the government, opposition parties made important gains. In Poland, the country's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) came out only narrowly ahead compared to a pro-EU alliance, in a vote seen as a test of the party's nationalists ahead of the general elections later in the year. In Romania, the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) suffered big losses, exit polls put them tied for first place with opposition centrists. A new grouping of parties, USR-Plus, secured third place with 24 percent of the votes, giving a boost to the liberals in the EU parliament.

Berlusconi and Puigdemont in

Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont, living in self-imposed exile in Belgium, has won a seat in the European Parliament, and so did former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, making sure the European Parliament will remain a colourful place for politics of all sorts of flavour. Puigdemont cannot take up his new role without returning to Madrid where he faces jail. Making things even odder, Britain's Brexiteer Nigel Farage could steer one of the biggest parties in the next parliament, in an election that was never supposed to have taken place in the first place in the UK.