The Czech Republic and Ireland have voted in European Parliament elections expected to boost euro-sceptic parties despite a surprise setback for Dutch populists.
With 26 million people out of work across the European Union, anti-EU and anti-immigration parties have picked up massive support.
Opinion polls suggest they could secure almost 100 seats in the new parliament, trebling their number in the 751-seat assembly, and may top the polls in Britain, France and Italy.
Friday results showed that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) led by Nigel Farage surged in local council elections, giving the anti-EU and anti-immigration group hope for a similar breakthrough in the European Parliament polls.
But the Netherlands' euro-sceptic and fiercely anti-Islamic populist Geert Wilders stumbled on Thursday, on the first day of voting on the continent.
His Party for Freedom scored just 12.2 per cent of the vote on Thursday, down from 17 per cent in 2009.
Farage has rejected claims his party was racist and said he wanted to cause a political "earthquake".
"If we get what we like, things will never be quite the same again," he told reporters, with UKIP expected to increase its current nine seats in Europe.
Meanwhile in France, a survey forecast a Sunday landslide for the anti-immigration, populist National Front, with 23.5 per cent of the vote.
Some 400 million Europeans are eligible to vote in the polls, spread over four days in the EU's 28 member states, and which come as the bloc struggles for relevance in the aftermath of the eurozone crisis and grapples with the chaos on its eastern borders.
Russia's annexation of Crimea has spooked many eastern European countries that were dominated by the Soviet Union for much of the 20th century.
Having anchored their security in the EU and NATO following the fall of the Iron Curtain, most of eastern Europe is expected to back pro-EU parties.
"The crisis in Ukraine may... push some voters to back mainstream parties and eschew those of a euro-sceptic bent," Vit Benes, from the Prague-based Institute of International Relations, said.
In the Czech Republic, two governing pro-EU parties are set to split 51 seats, with the populist ANO party poised for victory ahead of the left-wing Social Democrats.
Latvia, Malta and Slovakia hold their polls on Saturday, while the rest will vote on Sunday.
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