Ukraine turns blue
“Ukraine is changing course”, headlines Gazeta Wyborcza, reporting on Viktor Yanukovych’s victory in the second round of presidential elections on 7 February. Yanukovych defeated Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of Orange Revolution that prevented him from taking power in 2004. In an editorial the Warsaw daily observes that “the Ukrainians elected a president who seemed evil incarnate five years ago. They opted for post-Soviet stability rather than European unpredictability.” Borys Tarasyuk, former foreign affairs minister, believes that social conflict in Ukraine will intensify now as the pro-Moscow Yanukovych plans to make Russian the second official language and allow the Russian Black Sea fleet remain in Crimea.
These fears are not shared by Cornelius Ochmann, expert from Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation : “He will continue to modernize the country, and nobody can stop the growth of free media and private economy. Nor will he bury Ukraine’s European aspirations – as the country’s integration with the EU is a matter of decades rather than years”.
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. 
Agree to new austerity measures or risk being kicked out of the eurozone: that’s the alternative presented to Athens on the day the euro group is meeting. It’s a situation Greek politicians have failed to avoid, regrets To Vima.