The European Parliament's organising body will discuss how the institution will engage with Hungary while it holds the EU's rotating presidency, the head of the bloc's legislature said on Tuesday, following criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Orban drew rebukes from other European Union countries and leaders for recent surprise visits to Russia and China on a self-styled "peace mission" to end the war in Ukraine, days after Hungary assumed the EU's rotating presidency on July 1.

Far-right parties rattled the traditional powers in the European Union with major gains in parliamentary seats, dealing an especially humiliating defeat to French President Emmanuel Macron, who called snap legislative elections.

The pro-European parties at the centre command a majority, despite voters veering to the right. But Ursula von der Leyen's path to re-election is fraught with difficulties.

Around 185 million voters across 27 EU countries have had their say, and right-wing parties have seen support creep up in all corners of the continent, tilting the balance of power in the European Parliament.

Germany's conservatives finished first in the European Union's elections, as far-right momentum within the bloc has sent France's leadership scrambling. 

The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union garnered 30.2% of the vote Sunday, Politico reported, citing a projection by German public television. 

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came in second place, projected to receive 16% of the vote – a 5 percentage point club from the 2019 European Parliament election. 

Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could redirect the future of the world’s biggest trading bloc.

The war in Ukraine, migration, and the impact of climate policy on farmers are some of the issues weighing on voters’ minds as they cast ballots to elect 720 members of the European Parliament.

Serbians began voting on Sunday in a snap election seen as an effort by President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to secure another four-year term, after two mass shootings earlier this year rattled their popularity.

A total of 18 parties and alliances are vying for the support of the 6.5 million-strong electorate for 250 seats in the parliament. The threshold for entering the parliament is 3% of votes. Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close at 8 p.m.

Europe on Friday reached a provisional deal on landmark European Union rules governing the use of artificial intelligence including governments' use of AI in biometric surveillance and how to regulate AI systems such as ChatGPT.

With the political agreement, the EU moves toward becoming the first major world power to enact laws governing AI. Friday's deal between EU countries and European Parliament members came after nearly 15 hours of negotiations that followed an almost 24-hour debate the previous day.

Pedro Sánchez won the backing of a majority of lawmakers in Spain’s parliament to form a new government on Thursday, bringing four months of political paralysis in Madrid to an end.

The 51-year-old premier prevailed in a vote in Spain’s hyper-fractured, 350-seat parliament, obtaining yea votes from every left-wing and separatist group. In all, 179 lawmakers backed Sánchez.

After weeks of haggling, Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez has clinched a vote in parliament to lead Spain for another term as prime minister.

He has secured a four-seat majority in the 350-seat chamber, after sealing an amnesty deal for Catalans involved in a failed bid to secede from Spain.

The conservative Popular Party won elections in July, but leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo failed to form a majority.

Mr Sánchez told MPs that the amnesty deal would help "heal wounds".

Spain’s Pedro Sánchez was reelected as prime minister by the nation’s parliament on Thursday, when he leveraged a controversial amnesty deal to get the critical support from Catalan separatists to stay in power.

Sánchez, Spain's Socialist leader since 2018, was backed by 179 lawmakers in the 350-seat lower house of parliament to form a new minority leftist coalition government. Only right-wing opposition deputies voted against him.