Two months ahead of the European elections, leading researchers are predicting that the next European Parliament will strike an equilibrium between centre-right and centre-left, but the growing influence of Central and Eastern European MEPs will shift the power balance within the political groups.

"We are predicting overall stability for the next Parliament," said Simon Hix, a professor at the London School of Economics, who together with Trinity College Professor Michael Marsh devised a methodology which predicted the outcome of the last European elections fairly accurately in 2004.