The hard-Right nationalist, who has called on the Dutch to quit the Paris agreement on climate change, finished a narrow second to the alliance of Green and Left parties led by former EU climate boss Frans Timmermans, which lost a seat.

Mr Wilders’ putative coalition partners, the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB), won two seats after their landslide victory in regional elections dominated by tractor protests that spread across Europe.

Spain’s socialist leader Pedro Sanchez suffered defeat at the hands of his centre-Right rivals in the European elections.

Mr Sanchez lost the popular vote in Spain’s general election last July to the Partido Popular but was able to form a Left-wing coalition to stay in government.

The PP took 32.4 per cent of the vote compared to the socialists’ 30.2 per cent in a deeply polarised country.

The hard-Right Vox came third, taking 10.4 per cent, ahead of Mr Sanchez’s coalition partners on 6.3 per cent.

In Poland, however, the pro-EU Donald Tusk beat the eurosceptic Law and Justice party into second place. Hard-Right parties in Portugal and Romania also performed below expectations.