Yanukovych woos EU
Integration with the EU remains a priority, Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych announced during his first official visit in Brussels. For Warsaw daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, the Ukrainian leader has no other option but to maintain close ties. Not only the Ukraine’s key trading partner (direct EU investment in Ukraine is four times higher compared than Russia), the Union can also help Kiev secure International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and exert pressure on Moscow on energy issues. “Seen in the West as pro-Russian, Yanukovych’s announcement was an important signal for Brussels”, writes the daily. The EU is closely watching to see whether Ukraine will accept the Kremlin’s offer of a customs union with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus or continue talks with Brussels on a free trade agreement, which according to DGP, could be signed by the end of 2010.
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.