The rain has come for Cowen
“From deep recession to tottering banks to strikes to the treacherous Hand of Gaul, neither Brian Cowen nor the citizenry of Ireland can seem to catch a break these days.” So runs the front page article of today’s Irish Independent, capturing the bleak mood of a crisis-wracked country that, one week after its controversial exit from the World Cup, is now experiencing the worst floods for decades. With a photo of Taoiseach Brian Cowen in wellington boots strolling the flood stricken town of Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, the Dublin daily evokes the “bite in the wind” and the “evening gloom” which sums up what the deeply unpopular leader may regard as his “annus horribilis”. Indeed, even when the rains ease off, Mr Cowen will have to contend with today’s public service strike, as part of a nationwide protest against the government’s forthcoming budget, which promises drastic cuts and little in the way of hope for a country afflicted this year with a huge deficit – over 12% of GDP – and 7.5% negative growth.
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. 
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: 
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.