The Paris stock exchange led European market losses at the open Monday as French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections after his centrist alliance lost to the far right in EU elections.

The euro also fell against the dollar, dropping to $1.0762.

"The outcome of the European elections have caused a ruction in European politics," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading platform.

"No one expected France to call parliamentary elections on the back of the EU elections, so the shock factor may weaken the euro and European stock markets at the start of the week," she said.

The Paris CAC 40 dropped more than two percent before paring back some losses. It was down 1.8 percent at 7,854.84 points at around 0720 GMT.

The Frankfurt DAX shed 0.7 percent to 18,427,63, Milan was down 0.8 percent to 34,375.90 and Amsterdam fell 0.5 percent to 919.33.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 retreated by almost 0.7 percent to 520.11 points.

In non-EU Britain, the London FTSE 100 fell 0.6 percent to 8,199.38.