European Union states voted on Sunday on the final day of European Parliament elections expected to embarrass national governments struggling to combat the effects of the global economic crisis.

Voting took place in 19 countries on the fourth and final day of the election, in which the other eight EU member states have already finished voting.

In Ireland, exit polls showed the ruling Fianna Fail party faced the loss of one of its four European seats to Eurosceptics, suggesting that passage of the EU's reform treaty may not be as automatic as forecast in a likely October referendum.

Irish voters rejected the treaty aimed at streamlining EU decision-making last year and their support is needed for the reforms to go into effect.

Although centrist parties are expected to remain the dominant forces in the 736-member European Parliament, which shapes many EU laws and authorises the EU budget, some far-right parties could make gains if the turnout is particularly low.

In mainland France, turnout was slightly higher than in 2004, with 14.81 percent of those eligible having voted by 1000 GMT, against 13.65 percent at the same time in 2004.

Opinion polls before the election began suggested fewer than half the EU's 375 million electorate would vote.

Parliament will start releasing results at 2000 GMT. Exit polls from voting in the Netherlands worried EU leaders by showing gains for a far-right party.

"It doesn't look like the elections are going to be a triumph or a grand moment for European democracy," said Thomas Klau of the European Council on Foreign relations.

"National governments have set the perception that Europe is pretty useless by not being able to deliver a sufficiently strong and compelling and united message in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s."

Many voters are worried by rising unemployment and say the EU has done too little, too late, to tackle the economic crisis, although it eventually agreed a fiscal stimulus plan which poured in money to try to revive the economy.

Others say the EU is too distant and has little impact on their daily lives. Some simply do not understand a system in which the parliament shares power with the executive European Commission and a Council of EU heads of state and government.

VOTING ON NATIONAL ISSUES

Many voters were expected to vote on domestic issues, which is bad news for several national governments.

Britain's Labour Party, mired in a scandal over parliamentarians' perks, looks set for a drubbing. Other countries where governing parties could suffer setbacks include Ireland Spain, Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden voted on Sunday.

Germany's voting will test the waters before a September national election and French President Nicolas Sarkozy would use a good performance by his ruling UMP party to show that the French people back his policies.

For Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the risk is that a series of scandals, such as his relationship with an 18-year-old, will hurt his centre-right party's standing.

In Latvia, the main Russian speakers' party and other opposition groups made in both local and EU elections, hurting a government facing an economic crisis and devaluation talk.

One exit poll indicated a former top Communist official may win a European Parliament seat, a sign of just how much the political landscape looks set to change.

Dutch voters sent a worrying signal to EU leaders by pushing anti-immigrant leader Geert Wilders' Freedom Party into second place with four of the 25 seats, only one fewer than the main party in the centre-right coalition government.

EU leaders are also worried by Britain's Conservatives, who want a referendum in Britain on the Lisbon treaty. The Conservatives lead opinion polls before a parliamentary election that is due to held next year but which could come earlier.

The European Parliament's tasks will include tightening regulation of the financial system to help prevent another economic crisis. It will also have the final say in the make-up of the next European Commission, an important regulatory body.

If the Lisbon treaty comes into force, parliament's approval will also be required for the new posts of EU president and EU foreign policy chief.