BA-Iberia, marriage of convenience
British Airways (BA) and Iberia have finally said "I do". "The years of flirtation and 16 months’ engagement were necessary" for the two airlines to negotiate their nuptials, writes Público. On 12 November they signed a “letter of intent” to merge and create the world’s fourth-biggest airline – and Europe’s second (after Lufthansa) in capitalisation terms. BA will control 55%, Iberia 45%, of TopCo, as the new airline has been christened for the time being; its financial headquarters will be in London, its registered office in Madrid, and the two brands will be retained. "An inevitable merger", says El País, “corresponding to the ineluctable logic of commercial aviation”, a sector that is currently in the throes of "rising operating costs and falling demand, stiffer safety requirements and pressure from low-cost airlines, all of which is pushing toward the concentration of airlines”.
In a time of crisis with high unemployment, young Lithuanians are following in the footsteps of their emigrant ancestors. Tens of thousands have left the country in search of a better life, mainly in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The weekly Veidas reports: 
The new Eurogroup meeting on February 9 is not enough to banish the spectre of a Greek bankruptcy. While Athens may largely be responsible for the crisis, the EU and its partners are not blameless themselves. La Stampa argues that their confused messages and the absence of any strategy have transformed a resolvable problem into an explosive chaos. 
Two camps, two theories, and two visions of France: 18 years after the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, the precise role played by Paris is still the subject of heated debate, fueled by the findings of successive criminal investigations.