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As projected by Sky News analysis, almost a third of the seats in the European Parliament have been taken by populists.

In March, before it was known that the UK would take part, Sky analysis projected that 22 out of 27 countries would return MEPs from populist parties.

Still, with some countries with estimated and provisional results, 227 out of 751 new MEPs belong to parties academics consider populists - about 30%.

In the end, 22 countries returned populist MEPs out of the 28 countries that took part in the elections.

Three-quarters of Italy's seats (54) have been taken by members of a populist group - 28 by far-right The League, 14 by the Five Star Movement, which was created by comedian Beppe Grillo, seven by Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and five by the extreme-right Brothers of Italy.

In France, which returned 28 populist MEPs, 22 were captured by Marine Le Pen's Rally National and six by left-wing populist group France Unbowed.

In Poland, 26 of the country's 51 seats were taken by populists, all from the Law and Justice Party.

And in Hungary, Viktor Orban's Fidesz and Christian Democrat coalition took 13 out of the country's 21 seats.

The UK only joined in with the elections in 7 May. The UK's Brexit Party ended up being the populist group with highest number of seats (29), more than Matteo Salvini's Lega Nord.

Excluding the Brexit Party which did not exist in 2014, Lega Nord has increased its seats by the most, jumping from five in 2014 to 28.

Poland's Law and Justice also strengthened its presence in the parliament with seven more seats than in 2014, as well as Brothers of Italy, which enters the European Parliament for the first time.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon told Associated Press that European integration was "dead in its tracks" after successes by populist parties in Italy, France and Britain.

Mr Bannon predicted a "supergroup" of eurosceptic parties would block any attempts to deepen EU integration.

"Every day will be like Stalingrad," he claimed, making a reference to one of the fiercest battles during the Second World War.

But it is unclear whether the diverse array of nationalist, populist and far-right parties across Europe, many of which have competing interest, will be able to form a united bloc in the European Parliament.

Even if many of them do, they will be way short of a majority.

When Sky News carried out its analysis in March, experts said they doubted whether the populists would be able to carry out coordinated action, or would be able to influence policy heavily because their politics were so diverse.

But what they said would most probably happen, was that the increased share of populists in the parliament would slow or impede its ability to push through legislation.

Dr Paul Copeland, senior lecturer in public policy at Queen Mary's School of Politics and International Relations, told Sky News: "[With a third of seats occupied by populists], what you may find is that actually getting those simple majority votes in the parliament will be even more difficult and policy agreements will become increasingly more rare."

They also said that it could further prevent the EU coming to an agreement about what to do about issues surrounding immigration.

Dr Sarah Wolff, director of the Centre for European Research at QMUL and an expert in the EU's external relations, told Sky News: "A lot of people in these parties would say we shouldn't have refugees that should be able to move [around] - so we should have more strict controls.

"The big risk is that they would advocate for less rights for refugees and migrants and more border controls and more externalisation and co-operation with illegitimate governments in Turkey and Libya."

The first big test for the new era will be what happens in the wake of the EU's first post-election summit on Wednesday, at which European leaders will discuss who could replace EU Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.