PARIS, June 10 (Reuters) - France's finance minister

said on Monday that the snap election called by President

Emmanuel Macron after a bruising loss to the far-right in

European Parliament elections would be the most consequential

legislative vote in the republic's history.

Macron's shock decision amounts to a roll of the dice on his

political future. It could hand a great deal of power to Marine

Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) after years on the

sidelines, and neuter his presidency three years before it is

due to end.

The legislative vote will take place on June 30, less than a

month before the start of the Paris Olympics, with a second

round on July 7.

"This will be the most consequential parliamentary election

for France and for the French in the history of the Fifth

Republic," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio.

A source close to Macron said the president hoped to

mobilise voters who had abstained from voting on Sunday.

"We're going for the win," the source said. "There's

audacity in this decision, risk-taking, which has always been

part of our political DNA."

The euro fell 0.5% in early European trade, while Paris

blue-chip stocks dropped 2%, led by steep losses in banks BNP

Paribas and Societe Generale.

Helmed by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, the RN won about 32%

of the vote on Sunday, more than double the Macron ticket's 15%,

according to exit polls. The Socialists came within a whisker of

Macron with 14%.

Analysts said Macron's decision aimed to make the best of

his weak position, reclaiming the initiative and forcing RN into

election mode faster than it would have liked.

Some RN leaders appeared to have been caught off-guard.

"We didn't think it would be immediately after the European

elections, even if we wanted it to be," RN deputy chairman

Sebastien Chenu said on RTL Radio. "Elections are rarely a gift

and in this context, they aren't."

Bardella will be the party's candidate for prime minister,

he added.

The result is hard to predict. The outcome is likely to

depend on how committed leftist and center-right voters are to

the idea of blocking the far-right from power. Voter turnout on

Sunday was about 52%, the interior ministry said.

If the RN wins a majority, Macron would still remain as

president and direct defence and foreign policy. But he would

lose the power to set the domestic agenda, from economic policy

to security.

His Renaissance party currently has 169 lower house

lawmakers out of a total of 577. The RN has 88.

Eurasia Group said the RN was no shoo-in for a majority,

predicting a hung parliament as the most likely scenario.

"Faced with another hung parliament, (Macron) will try to

form a wider alliance with the center-right or center-left,

possibly by appointing a prime minister from one of those

camps," it said in a note.

"We foresee a losing struggle for serious domestic reform or

strict deficit reduction in the remaining three years of

Macron's term."

The dismal performance by Renaissance contrasted with the

centre-right's broader showing across the EU. The centre-right

European People's Party (EPP) will be the biggest political

grouping in the new legislature, gaining five seats to field 189

deputies, a centralised exit poll showed.